Green Singing Finches Are Also Known as 'The Poor Man's Canary'

Since I was a child, I always enjoyed trips to the Pet Store. My kids, and now my grandkids, have inherited a great love of animals and we still look at birds, fish and puppies.

It was during one of these trips to the Pet Shop many years ago that my then 17-year-old son and I stopped in a pet store to purchase canary food, when the store owner, Doris, told us that she was selling her store and everything in it. "I'll make you a great deal on that breeder over there," she said. We looked and weren't sure which bird she meant. Doris told us, "The Singing Finch." There were many Finches and several cages; one cage had a single bird in it, so small that he was really tiny. "Yes, that's the one," she laughed. The little guy was green with black through his wings and tail; he was very small and not very striking at all. But he looked at us and didn't flinch when I stuck my face right up to the cage to look closer.

"What's his story," I asked Doris.

"I had a few babies from him. We didn't sex them; we just sold them. They are actually good sellers to those who know them. We like to call them 'The Poor Man's Canary' because they sing like crazy. He never stops singing. I'm not sure why they're called 'Poor Man' at all since they're not at all inexpensive," she went on.

I'm thinking to myself this bird is going to be expensive. He was really cute and the more I watched him, the cuter he seemed - all the while he sat his ground. He stared right back at me, rubbed his bill across the perch, stared, moved a little on the perch, and even moved closer. All of his little tactics were working on me and I was intrigued. Still, he had not made a sound. My son nudged me, "Mom, you know you're going to get him, so lets go."

Doris packed him into the little pet store cardbox with small breathing holes after I paid for this little guy. I found out he was 3 years old going on 4. He was banded on both legs. On the way home, I found myself thinking that I surely did not need another animal to care for. And then he let us have it - right in the box.

That confounded little bird, whom we had already named Mr. Finch, started to chatter in his box and then he actually started to sing. You read that right - he started to sing in a clear song. We could not believe it. Doris had told us he sang all the time but in the box?

He settled in with us like he had always been our pet. He ate well, was clean in his cage, liked a daily bath, and sang all the time. He'd sing even when the lights were dim and it was getting dark. His song was a cross between a canary and an outside yard bird. It was melodious but not as long in duration as some canaries. He grew rather fond of me and allowed me to reach in and grab him for nail trimmings. That was the extent of his interaction - most finches go spastic when you reach into the cage. He was guarded, yet he never acted crazed or afraid.

Mr. Finch lived by himself when he first moved in with us. Later he shared a large aviary cage with my other birds - we had Gouldians, Canaries, Society Finches and Gordon Blues. They all got along and did very well. Many of the birds lived much shorter lives than our Mr. Finch.

He lived for a very long time and remained healthy throughout his lifetime. We used to laugh that he was "old enough to vote." But all things have an ending. Sadly, one day Mr. Finch was on the cage floor, just barely alive. I cradled him for a little while; he died peacefully. Figuring that he was 3 years old when we bought him, he lived another 15 years with us - he was 18 years old when he died.

Mr. Finch was an amazing pet. I'm not able to judge other Singing Finches based on just one bird. Yet this one was extraordinary. I never got another Singing Finch since my primary focus was the Canaries and I did not want to branch into another species.

This article and many others are written by The Old Gray Mare™ of www.DressYourHorse.com™ and www.FantasyKritters.com™.