FINCHforum

hi everyone,

what does beak clicking mean, i have one male that keeps clicking his beak and sort of liking his mouth.
i gave him S76 in the water for 2 days thinking it might be air sack mites. but nothing changed.
could it be something else? or just a habit. he is singing and he doesn't sneeze.



btw does anyone know how to decipher a european leg band.

I'm not sure what you mean by "clicking". Is he tapping his beak together or using his tongue? Does he seem bored? Is he healthy otherwise? He looks beautiful and I think I see a few new feathers, Is he in the beginning of a molt?

Very handsome male! I've had canaries make audible, clicking noises with their beaks, and it wasn't a sign of any illness. Maybe just another form of communication or a territorial display? To hear the "clicking" associated with air sac mites, you really have to put the bird's beak right up to your ear. Bob

Tnx guys,
He is tapping his beak together, and it is audible from a distance, after he does that i usually see him open his mounth and move his tounge around. Maybe its just his thing, his tik.

I dont think he is moulting as i havent seen any feathers on the cage floor, he was recently shipped from Italy according to the petshop.

I like him alot, altough he is terrified from people it will take some time to fix that.

Oh and he has a single brown varigated wing feather. I was told this is common and a throw back to the siskin origine.

I am new to this forum but I have had finches for about four yrs. Definitely not an expert. I currently have a zebra finch in quarantine - meds for nasal infection I did not notice when I purchased him. Anyway, after treating him for a month he now occasionally 'beak clicks' as well - at treatment time. I think he is hoping I go away. I have carefully observed this because like you I was concerned. He is definitely making the noise by having his upper and lower beak make contact.

Interestingly, IMO, young horses will expose and 'click' their front teeth/incisors together when they are nervous or around horses/people they are being submissive to.

Dogs will sometimes yawn or lick their lips for the same reason.

I will be interested to see what others think.

Hi Derk and welcome to the forum. you will find a lot of help here from wonderful people.

the beak clicking could be territorial, although he has his own cage. i haven't had enough time to observe him yet.
i will post an update on my observations in a few weeks.

Thanks for the welcome, admouski! I am really enjoying having fellow 'finchaholics' to chat with!

I forgot to mention - "Beautiful Bird!" a mosaic canary? If it is a friend has a couple, but IMHO the markings of your bird are much nicer. I like the look of the white 'cheek patch.' Is the other side similarly marked? Another picture?

I forgot to mention - "Beautiful Bird!" a mosaic canary? If it is a friend has a couple, but IMHO the markings of your bird are much nicer. I like the look of the white 'cheek patch.' Is the other side similarly marked? Another picture?

hey Derk tnx,
he's a mosaic canary, but if you want to show mosaics he should have a full mask and some other requirements. im not into showing and i found him very cute so i got him. from what i understood, he can be used to breed good quality hens (with the small red eye mark).
here are some more picks.

He is beautiful.

Beautiful color! I have some Timbrado canaries and they "click" their beaks sometimes too. They are all healthy, so it must be some kind of "canary talk".

Thanks for the additional pics. Koodo's for interpreting my message - obviously I was more than a little tired when I typed it -

From what I can tell the markings are very symmetrical. Is there yellow on the primaries? In the last picture he looks like he has a beard. Too cute!

I have not and probably never will show anything. I buy what I like and what makes me happy. I have a male gloster canary - corona, blue pied and a good singer. I also have a pale yellow canary - not sure of the type. He was supposed to be male but he has never sung. I have told him? he has until this summer...I have never sold a bird but I specifically got these guys to cover up some of the 'beeping' of the finches.

hey Derk,

yes that is yellow on the wing.
i find the beeping of zebra finches by the way very cute. they make me laugh. i wanted to get a pair but no more space to keep them.
you can find a lot of info here to help your male sing, i got some tracks of my favorite canary songs from youtube and i play them daily, everyone start singing even my 6 week olds.

Adoumski, I do not mind the beeping, but I have 12 zebs & other finches, never mind the 9 lovebirds & 2 bigger parrots. I live in a house and I am on a good sized lot but it is amazing how far the little voices can travel. Neighbours have never complained, but I thought adding something a little more musical would not hurt.

Regarding the canary - not 100% sure he is a male. I have read about some of the stuff to encourage them, but it has not been a priority. I did think the corona and the green singer(male) would have been enough. No? And actually, I find the green singer sings less since I acquired the canaries. I thought because they invaded 'his space' (separate cages), he would be singing more???

Derk you have quite a few birds
are lovebirds easy to keep and to tame?

Canaries do sing more when they are in a separate cage and can't see each other. i did my best in the beginning to keep my birds in two large cages, but the males stopped singing. so now each male has his own cage stacked on top of each other even my 2 month old male got his own cage as his new siblings disturbed him and he stopped singing.