Long story short, a friend's parents recently moved to an apartment, and could no longer keep their birds as a result. He had a bird room, originally with zebras, canaries, some kind of parrot and some kind of quail. I was offered to take the last remaining canaries for free, which I picked up less than a week ago together with my friend, who took over the house as they moved out and had been caring for the birds for the last week or so. I expected maybe 2-3 birds but turned out to be six, eek. They were living together and so I have kept them together for now (and now they are together with my zebras as well). Bird numbers in the cage are a bit tight for my taste now though so I might split them and/or sell of a few birds down the line. So far they seem to be get along amazingly well though, I have seen no signs of quibbling among any of them with the possible exception of one bird which I'm hoping will improve its health with time. I'm not quite sure what's happened to it but its wing feathers appear to be damaged (was like that when I got it, it didn't happen now). My friend who had been feeding and giving the birds general care before I picked them up has no knowlege of birds as such and as a result I don't think she realized anything was amiss. The little guy is already a lot more active and outgoing though so I'm crossing my fingers for a swift recovery. His wings are too damaged for him (or her) to fly but he has a ladder and climbs as high as he can on that, climbing down to eat and drink on the bottom of the cage. Sings and is active etc - he moves around the cage, doesn't just sit in a corner now like he did when I picked him up. So cross your fingers!
Anyway, I have absolutely no knowledge about canary colours and would like some help identifying their patterns. I've found some sites that cover one pattern or another and tried to get an understanding based on that - wish there was a single page with a simple overview of all patterns (if there is, I've missed it!). These particular birds are certainly nothing fancy but I'm enjoying seeing them all the same, they are different from my zebras for sure. Very curious and outgoing birds!
Oh, and are there any colour markers at all that can be used to identify genders? When I picked up the birds I found three nests of eggs, so I suspect I probably have three mated pairs but I don't know which brids belong with each other yet. My understanding is that they are easiest to sex in spring time or that you can go by the song, although that isn't always foolproof..?
Oh, and just in case, if these birds appear to fit under any particular type/breed or shows signs of doing so, I'd love to hear that too. I have no idea about their history and I don't think they have a fancy pedigree most likely - probably generic/mixed breeds birds. I don't think any of them have any fancy songs, I haven't heard anyone produce anything spectacular anyway lol, mostly normal chirping. One of them looks leggier than the others but not sure if that's just within the span of normal variation.
Here are the birds - sorry about the poor quality, photos were taken in the evening. If needed I can try to get better photos. I didn't get photos of all of them but a few are very similar anyway.
White/yellow - Ithink that "her"(?) patches are more beige in RL, not quite as yellow as they appear in photos. Is this a mosaic? I've seen some birds called mosaic that look similar to this but not sure wha that requirements for the pattern is...
I have two birds that appear to be a mix of wild type and yellow spots - variegated, right? This is the one with the most yellow:
This is the "leggier" bird, btw
The one with less yellow
Then there are two birds that look pretty much like the wild type. One of them as a few discreet yellow spots so guessing that one is variegated too. The other one doesn't have any, I think... or if it does, they are very subtle and blend really well into the base pattern. I might have to check the brid very closely to see if there are any. Both of them also have a few white feathers on their tails and maybe in their wings. Is this part of the wild pattern or are they "fouls"? I think that's the term for birds with misplaced white markings, yes?
I thiiink the first two photos show the bird with a few yellow spots while the last is of the bird with no apparent yellow on it
The one with the damaged feathers. Crested variegated, I think?
This was from the first night I got him, he looks better now, I must add!
