Canaries: How to Take Care of Them and Understand Them

CANARIES by Otto von Frisch, and translated by Matthew Vriends includes many wonderful photographs of canaries in various stages of development, eating and playing and flying. The material in this book is not very different from the CANARY HANDBOOK written by Vriends and also published by Barron's, but the additional photos are nice, and the "Dangers for Your Canary' are important for new bird owners. This list includes dangers for `free-flying" canaries, which von Frisch seems to encourage (free-flying that is, not dangers). Von Frisch includes helpful hints about what to do if your free-flying canary shows no inclination to return to his cage after you let him out, as well as how to create "favorite spots" for the birds outside the cage for the bird to use. In "Life with a Canary" von Frisch discusses diet. He suggests storing bird seed in the refrigerator in tight fitting containers. The cool dry air keeps the seed from spoiling, however, if you are like me with 11 birds, you may not have room for much of anything else. His list of things to add to the bird's menu includes old favorites such as spray millet and home-cooked treats.The photos in this book are amazing with many action shots. In a section entitled "Understanding Behavior", von Frisch includes 8 photos with text showing various examples of bird behavior including bath taking and beak cleaning. CANARIES is a nice little "how-to" book filled with information for the new canary owner.

This is a well-written book with plenty of photographs, and thoroughly helpful information on raising these amazing little birds (I can attest to this since I have raised them for many years.) He gives good data on all the different canary types, how to feed and care for them, etc. The only glitch I noticed was that he makes reference to color-fed birds being endangered by "synthetic color substances" without citing data/studies or naming chemicals. This is confusing to a beginner, especially since more than half the photos in his book are of color-fed birds! He doesn't discuss the crucial role the Venezualian red siskin in the formation of "red-factor" canaries, nor of the fact that beta-carotene is essential in both the siskin's diet in the wild and the red-factor's diet in captivity. A more complete book would be Barron's "New Canary Handbook"; "Coloured,Type and Song Canaries," by Walker and Avon, and of course, Linda Hogan's classic "Canary Tales." The last is still in print and highly recommended.

This book was bought on a whim by a canary keeper of many years. It completely rethinks the canary as a pet, revolutionizes care, e.g. your canary will now be flying around your home and is insightful in all sorts of ways. Alas many of the suggested products are no longer readily available in the US where the canary has been falling out of popularity, first to the budgie and now the larger parrots. A strong and enthusiastic recommendation.