Canary girl seat
| Canary girl seat | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Canarian girlitz ( Serinus canaria ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Serinus canaria | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The Canary Girlitz ( Serinus canaria ) is a species from the finch family (Fringillidae). Its diet consists mainly of seeds and buds . The species is currently not considered endangered. The Canary Girlitz is the ancestral species of the domesticated canary bird . It is the natural symbol of the Canary Islands .
distribution
Two thirds of the world's population live in the Canary Islands , the other third in Madeira and the Azores . The Canary Islands girl was also introduced in Hawaii . Whether this population survived is a matter of dispute. It can only be found on the Canary Islands El Hierro , La Gomera , La Palma , Tenerife and Gran Canaria . He was not able to settle permanently on the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura with their sub-islands, as the dry climate there apparently opposes it.
habitat
The habitat ranges from the sea coast to an altitude of 2000 m. The preferred habitats of the Kanarengirlitzes are wooded and bushy, partly open areas, as they can be found in vineyards, orchards and gardens. In this way, it also penetrates the peripheral areas of the settlements. There he finds hiding places in trees and bushes , enough food and, above all, water. Even in areas with up to 2.5 m high euphorbia , on the fringes of the pine forests ( Pinus canarensis ) or in the with tree heath ( Erica arborea passed) Macchien he can often be found. Canary Islands girls avoid the dense, evergreen laurel forest and the damp and cool subtropical cloud forest .
hikes
Canary girls only do local hikes and are therefore resident birds . They wander far and wide in search of food. In winter they roam the islands in flocks of 50 birds and more.
description
The Kanarengirlitz has a typical finch shape, with a rounded head, short neck and short, powerful conical beak. The tail is slightly longer and forked less deeply than that of siskins .
The Kanarengirlitz shows a gender dimorphism .
Males with yellow throats, green-yellow eye and cheek stripes and ear mark framed by a dark streak of beard. These distinctive features can be found in many types of girlitz. The feathers of the ear region, the crown and the neck are yellow-green with an ash-gray to blackish shaft dots. The back is striped black-brown on a gray-green background, as these feathers have dark brown centers along the quill. The rump is brightly yellow-green in color. The underside is yellow-green, with strong dark stripes on the flanks. The under-tail-coverts and the cesspool area are whitish, partly also covered with yellow. The wings and control springs are matt black and have a narrow yellow-green to whitish edge. The iris of the eyes is gray-black. The stand and toes are gray-brown, the claws anthracite. The upper bill is flesh-colored to light lead-gray, blackish towards the tip, the lower bill is horn-colored.
The females show less yellow overall, the head markings are less clear. The upper side is more brownish in them, the underside is dull yellow and the breast is slightly darkly striped.
The young birds are generally gray-brown up to the juvenile moult with clearly more developed longitudinal stripes. The chest is ocher in color and the yellow and green tones are largely absent. Only the young males show a pale yellowish throat.
Canary girls have a body length of about 125 mm; Wings approx. 75 mm, tail approx. 55 mm. The body weight is usually around 15 to 25 grams.
The flight of the Kanarengirlitzes is noticeably undulating and corresponds to the typical flight pattern of the finches.
Voice and singing
Closely related to the singing is the hearing ability, which is well developed in the Canary Islands girl. The optimal hearing sensitivity ranges from 3200 Hertz (Hz) to 4000 Hz. The lower hearing limit is 1100 Hz and its upper limit is 10000 Hz.
The Kanarengirlitz can also distinguish very fast tone sequences, store them in memory and reproduce them. Therefore he can learn to imitate the sounds of other birds and include them in his song. Karl Russ has already mentioned his well-developed talent for imitation . This learning ability enabled the breeders to improve the singing of the wildling over the centuries and ultimately led to today's singing canaries.
The lure and voice-feel sounds are similar to the canary.
The male Canary Islands girl often sings from a singing room. He lets his singing most often during courtship time to defend his territory against conspecifics and to woo a female. Like the European Girlitz , the Canary Girlitz rises to courtship flights and sings. The singing starts softly and culminates in loud and harsh vocal verses. The Kanarengirlitz can master up to 400 sound elements (tours). However, it lacks the rolling singing that we know from domesticated (singing) canaries (audio sample).
As the original species of all canary breeds, the song of the Canary Girlitz is of greater interest and has therefore often been studied. Bolle already described the singing as melodious and sonorous, especially in freedom when the singing resounds there "where roses and jasmine entwine around the cypress trees and the sound waves that are blurred in space strip away the hardness" .
In contrast to the compositions, the syllable repertoire does not change seasonally. In the breeding season, the chants of the males are on average longer and the repetition rate of syllables is higher than outside of them. Furthermore, during this period there was an increase in rapidly frequented modulated syllables and a decrease in quiet syllables, since the former are more attractive to the females. About 50 percent of the syllables that are forgotten after a breeding season appear in the following season. About 25 percent of the syllables are reproduced seasonally. Furthermore, some identical syllable sequences are reactivated annually.
nutrition
As a grain eater, the Canary Girlitz mainly feeds on semi-ripe and ripe seeds. It prefers canary grass ( Phalaris canariensis ), but sometimes also eats the seeds of sugar cane ( Saccharum officinarum ) and other grasses . Also the seeds of the daisy family , like everlasting flowers ( Helichrysum ), the wild flowers ( Tanacetum ), the goose thistles ( Sonchus ), dandelions ( Taraxacum ) and the Pippaus ( Crepis ). If available, they also consume the seeds of other grasses and herbs such as plantain , knotweed , ringwort , poppy seeds , some types of millet and chickweed . In spring, the birds prefer to eat the sweet, watery berries of the shrubby madder ( Rubia fruticosa ), a shrubby, climbing red plant . From this and from other fruits or flowers they cover their water needs . In addition, they also eat leaves and flowers buds like.
In the first few days, small insects , beetles , caterpillars and aphids are also fed and probably eaten themselves to raise youngsters .
Canaries meet their water needs by picking up dew and raindrops or picking fruit. They are happy to accept all available water points - including artificial ones - in order to bathe and drink extensively.
Reproduction
The Canary Islands girl leads a monogamous brood marriage. An investigation into paternity on an island in the Madeira archipelago found no evidence of foreign copulation . The breeding season extends from early spring to summer. Depending on the weather and food availability, they raise two to three annual broods.
At the beginning of the breeding season, the male occupies a sufficiently large territory, which he demarcates with his song and is defended against conspecifics. Usually the singing is enough to drive away rivals. However, there are also chase flights and beak skirmishes.
The male sings frequently and persistently during courtship, sometimes also in courtship flight. If the female accepts the advertisement, mating takes place , which only takes one to two seconds. During the breeding season there is a change of dominance, the female being the stronger partner.
The nesting site is usually in a fork of a tree or bush near the trunk, with tree heather being preferred. The bowl-shaped nest is built by the female solely from dry moss , blades of grass and leaves. The inside is lined with animal hair, wool and feathers. It is often accompanied by the male when bringing up the nesting material.
The clutch consists of three to six whitish eggs, which are provided with reddish-brown spots on the blunt end. The female breeds alone and usually sits very firmly and persistently on the eggs. It only leaves the nest briefly to drop poop and drink. The rest of the time, the male provides the female with food from the crop. The breeding season is 13 to 14 days.
Development of the young
On the day of hatching, the young live on the yolk sac. In the first days of the nestling period, the adult birds also feed small insects , beetles , caterpillars and aphids as animal protein. The main food, however, is the semi-ripe and ripe seeds softened in the crop. All accessible sources of feed are used, especially during the rearing up of the young, so that fruits, buds and herb parts are also taken in and fed.
The droppings deposited by the young are removed from the nest, carried away or swallowed by the adult birds. After about a week the young lift themselves up in the nest and poop over the edge of the nest.
After the 14th day of life, the urge to flee is stimulated, so that the young can jump out of the nest in the event of disturbances. Apart from a stubby tail and remnants of downy feathers over the eyes, they have a complete plumage. The young leave the nest at the age of 17 to 21 days and continue to be fed by the adult birds. During this time, the male often looks after the young on his own and teaches them to look for food and to eat independently. Meanwhile the female starts another brood.
When the young birds are around five to eight weeks old, the first moult begins for them , in which only the small plumage - i.e. without wing and tail feathers - is changed.
After the end of the breeding season, the adult birds move around with their young in search of food. Several family associations often come together for this purpose. They are in danger from cats , birds of prey and martens . The maximum life expectancy of the Canary Islands girl is ten years.
Systematics
The closest relative is the girlitz . The separation of the Kanarengirlitzes from the Girlitzes took place 3.5 to 4.3 million years ago. No subspecies are described for the Canary Islands girl.
Investigations of the mitochondrial DNA showed no notable genetic differences between the populations of the individual island groups; the median of the genetic distances was 0.1 percent. It is very likely that the species originated in Madeira . From there, the Azores were settled about 650,000 to 725,000 years ago and the Canary Islands about 375,000 years ago. These periods of time have apparently not yet been sufficient for the emergence of essential genetic differences, but for the development of morphological differences. Wing length, body mass and beak length of Canary Islands girls of different populations differ. The current gene flow between the populations of the island groups is estimated to be low. According to Claßen, the Canary Girlitz of Madeira is somewhat larger and less contrasting in color.
Inventory and inventory development
The worldwide distribution area of the species is estimated at 10,500 km². The large global population comprises around 60,000 to 300,000 individuals. Therefore the species is classified as not endangered (LC).
The European population is less than 100,000 breeding pairs, making it relatively small, but appears to have been stable between 1970 and 1990. Since no trends were found between 1990 and 2000, the species is consequently temporarily classified as secure. Although the species is not currently threatened, the intensive application of agrochemicals could endanger its spread in the future.
Geographically, the Canary Girlitz belongs to the African girlitz species, as its home islands are off the African west coast. Politically, however, these islands belong to the European states of Spain and Portugal and are European territory. Therefore, the Canary Islands girl is considered a European, protected bird species and is subject to the Birds Directive . This directive concerns the conservation of all wild bird species indigenous to the European territory of the Member States. His keeping in human care must therefore be reported to the responsible nature conservation authority.
Canary girl and man
In the 16th century, Conrad Gessner mentions the Canary Girlitz in the third volume of the Historia animalium as "Canariam aviculam" ("Sugar Bird") and praises its singing. Ulisse Aldrovandi and Olina later research it . In 1758 Carl von Linné gave it the Latin name Fringilla canaria .
Whether the native inhabitants of the Canaries kept the Canary Girlitz as a cage bird is likely because of its beautiful song, but is controversial. After conquering the Canary Islands in 1496, the Spaniards brought the Canary Girlitz to Europe . Since the birds liked sweets, they were also called "sugar birds". Because of their singing and liveliness, they quickly gained great popularity and became a symbol of luxury and sophistication. Due to the increasing demand for Canary Islands girls, they had to be shipped in large quantities. As the monasteries expected large income from trading them, the monks began breeding them, from which the canaries developed.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ley 7/1991, de 30 de April, de símbolos de la naturaleza para las Islas Canarias
- ^ Heinrich Dathe : Handbook of the bird lover. Second volume: weaver, finch, widow and passerine birds and other grain eaters. VEB Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, 1986.
- ↑ Karl Russ: The foreign housebirds. Volume 1. Hard and seed eater. Hanover 1879.
- ↑ Serinus Canaria - Canary Wild on YouTube , accessed June 2, 2019
- ↑ Carl August Bolle: The wild canary bird, a biography. In: J. Orn. 1858, pp. 125-151. Web link
- ^ S. Leitner, C. Voigt, M. Gahr: Seasonal Changes in the Song Pattern of the Non-Domesticated Island Canary (Serinus Canaria), a Field Study. In: Behavior. 138, 2001, pp. 885-904. JSTOR 4535862
- ^ S. Leitner, C. Voigt, L.-M. Garcia-Segura, T. Van't Hof, M. Gahr: Seasonal Activation and Inactivation of Song Motor Memories in Wild Canaries Is Not Reflected in Neuroanatomical Changes of Forebrain Song Areas. In: Hormones and Behavior. 40, 2001, pp. 160-168. PMID 11534977 .
- ↑ A. Arnaiz-Villena, M. A´ lvarez-Tejado, V. Ruı´z-del-Valle, C. Garcı´a-de-la-Torre, P. Varela, MJ Recio, S. Ferre, J. Martinez-Laso: Rapid Radiation of Canaries (Genus Serinus). Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain. ( Weblink PDF; 435 kB)
- ↑ ITIS Report: Serinus canaria (Linnaeus, 1758)
- ↑ Avibase Database: Kanarengirlitz (Serinus canaria) (Linnaeus, 1758)
- ↑ C. Dietzen, C. Voigt, M. Wink, M. Gahr, S. Leitner: Phylogeography of island canary (serinus canaria) populations. In: Journal of Ornithology. 147, 2006, pp. 485-494. Weblink ( Memento of April 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 358 kB)
- ↑ Hans Claßen, Karlheinz Kolter: Handbook of the Carduelids. Volume 1: Siskins, Giritzes. Hanke-Verlag, Pforzheim 1992, ISBN 3-924512-01-9 .
- ↑ Birdlife Factsheet: Island Canary
- ^ Birds in Europe: Island Canary
literature
- Ulisse Aldrovandi : Ornithologiae hoc est de avibus historiae Libri. Volume XII, I, Bologna 1599-1603.
- TR Birkhead, K. Schulze-Hagen, R. Kinzelbach: Domestication of the canary, Serinus - canaria - the change from green to yellow. In: Archives of natural history. 31 (1), 2004, pp. 50-56.
- Christian Dietzen, Cornelia Voigt, Michael Wink, Manfred Gahr, Stefan Leitner: Phylogeography of island canary ( Serinus canaria ) populations. In: J. Ornithol. 147, 2006, pp. 485-494.
- Harald Fuchs: Born to sing. The song of the birds using the example of the canary. Rainar Nitzsche Verlag, ISBN 3-930304-24-4 .
- Conrad Gessner: Historiae animalium liber III., Qui est de avium natura. Zurich 1555.
- GP Olina: Uccelliera overo discorso della natura, e proprieta di diversi uccelli, e in particolare di que 'che cantano con il modo di prendergli, conoscergli, allevargli, e mantenergli. Roma 1622.
- L. Svensson, PJ Grant, K. Mullarney, D. Zetterström: Der Kosmos Vogelführer. Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07720-9 .
- Cornelia Voigt, Stefan Leitner, Manfred Gahr: Mate fidelity in a population of Island Canaries ( Serinus canaria ) in the Madeiran Archipelago. In: J. Ornithol. 144, 2003, pp. 86-92.
- Renate van den Elzen: Girlitze - biology, husbandry and care . Biotropic-Verlag, Baden-Baden 1983, ISBN 3-922465-02-1 .
- Hans Claßen, Karlheinz Massoth: Handbook of the Cardueliden. Volume 1: Siskins, Giritzes. Hanke-Verlag, Pforzheim 1992, ISBN 3-924512-01-9 .
- Horst Bielfeld: Siskins, Giritzes and other finches. Eugen Ulmer, 1990, ISBN 3-8001-7201-1 .
- Helmut Dost : Foreign housebirds. Urania-Verlag, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1967.
- Heinrich Dathe : Handbook of the bird lover. Second volume: weaver, finch, widow and passerine birds and other grain eaters. VEB Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, 1986.
- Christopher M. Perrins : The Great Encyclopedia of Birds. Orbis Verlag für Journalistik, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-572-00810-7 .
- Carl August Bolle : The wild canary bird, a biography. In: J. Orn. 1858, pp. 125-151. (Web link)
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Serinus canaria in the Internet Bird Collection
- C. Voigt, S. Leitner: Breeding biology of the Island Canary Serinus canaria (Aves: Fringillidae) on the Desertas Island Ilheu Chao ( Memento of May 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) In: Boletim do Museu Municipal do Funchal. Volume 50, Issue 290, 1998, pp. 117-124. (PDF file; 1.56 MB)
- Serinus canaria inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
- Feathers of the Canary Islands girl