Innholdsfortegnelse for December 10, 2025 i Cage & Aviary Birds

CLUB SHOWS THE BRITISH GOULDIAN Finch Club (TBGFC) triumphed at the 2025 Gouldian Online World Show (GOWS), coming fifth place for the UK out of 28 countries. The show was founded in 2021 during the pandemic by Ahmed Al Alawi to give breeders around the world a way to compete remotely. Since then, it has turned into a prestigious global platform. Changing every year, the judging panel for 2025 was Ahmed Al Alawi, Bill Salomonsz, Ramon Tajes, Mohammed Ekhmairy, and Clyde Dalby. Dave McDivitt, TBGFC president, emerged as class champion for the best black-headed, whitebreasted, green-back Gouldian, scoring 91 points from 437 entries submitted. Although not a judge this year, Albert Zomer, president of the NBvV (Dutch Bird Association) and vice president of COM, continued his role as executive sponsor,…

Rob will be back next week ALL YOU want for Christmas? How about a roller canary? In the 1920s, the song canary hobby was massive and professional stockists flourished. “Have one of our famous roller canaries,” urged J Sandiford of Preston, who boasted of having lived at the same address for 45 years. You had a choice: “the real St Andreasberg” roller or “the British club rung”. (Five years after WWI, you could mention Germany again in an advert.) Prices ranged from 12s to 25s, “distance no object, safe arrival guaranteed”. ■ A paltry 35 years in residence at the same address (in Halifax this time), “breeder, exhibitor and exporter” J Thomas invited one and all to pop round. “Any fanciers who may be in this district during the Christmas…

SHOW season time – and my first event of the year was the Border Canary Association (BCA) event held at Kelso on November 1. There were a good number of birds entered in the champion classes, and a real positive was there were four novices entered too, which was really good to see. Congratulations to Paul Heathcote, who won best Border in show and John South, who picked up the award for best novice Border in show. I did quite well, too, and managed fifth best novice and eighth best novice Border, plus four colour specials: best novice three-parts dark (TPD), best novice heavily variegated and best novice green. Oh, and… best novice white. Yes – best novice white! I've won my first colour special from my allied to white…

WELL, the APHA “alert” came nicely timed to instil confusion across most of the country, I would have thought. (See Cage & Aviary Birds, November 5 and 12.) Luckily, we managed to stop ourselves from panicking and, eventually, through various channels and contributions from Cage & Aviary Birds, etc, came to the conclusion that the first joint Morpeth and NEGC show for 18 years was OK to go ahead. Entries had already been coming in and catalogued, of course. So I had already encountered problems by way of the clubs’ request for both unique customer identification (UCID) and county parish holding (CPH) numbers. Some fanciers claimed they simply didn't have a UCID and these seemed to be primarily long-time registered fanciers. In addition, the CPH numbers seemed to have no…

CLUB NEWS AUSTRALIAN FINCH SOCIETY held its last meeting for 2025 on November 16. Surprisingly, there were a lot of things that had to be discussed along with the details of the forthcoming AGM on February 15, 2026 (10.30am – 2.30pm). As to the rules of the society, any nominees or nominations for official positions or any suggestions/subjects that fully paid up members would like to be included in the AGM's agenda should be brought to the attention of the society's secretary Keith Goldsack before the end of January 2026. His contact details can be found in the society's magazine or on www.australianfinchsociety.co.uk All members are invited to come along and share any views or ideas they may have. The minutes of the November meeting will be printed in a…

DAGENHAM CBS – December 13, Wantz Hall, 257 Rainham Road North RM10 7DX, 10am. Members’ show held with the Southern Norwich PCC. Enquiries: 07852 959 447. DUNBARTONSHIRE BS – December 15, The Rock Bowling Club, Pier Esplanade G82 1JJ, 8pm. AGM followed by general meeting. Enquiries: 07951 110 570. GATESHEAD & NEWCASTLE BS – December 10, Swalwell Community Centre, 74 Clavering Road NE16 3ET, 7pm. Christmas social. Enquiries: 07530 996 570. HAVANT & SOLENT CAGE BIRD SOCIETIES MONTHLY SALE – December 21, Fareham Academy, St Annes Grove, Fareham PO14 1JJ, 11am-1pm. Parking available. Enquiries: 07854 286 025. IPSWICH BS – December 10, Constable Memorial Hall CO7 6TP, 7.45pm. Christmas club dinner. Enquiries: 07718 184 436. NORTH EAST BBM&HC – December 10, Trimdon Colliery and Deaf Hill WMC TS29 6AJ, 8pm.…

TROPICAN'S GIVEAWAY WINNERS THE THREE WINNERS of the November Tropican giveaway to win three 1.8kg bags of Tropimix Formula for Small Parrots are as follows: Brian Sheldrake from Norwich; Tina Dymond from the Isle of Wight; and Anthony Cahill from London. Tropimix for Small Parrots is a premium food mix full of grains, fruits, nuts and Tropican granules. This special blend is fortified with essential vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Congratulations to all! Your prize is on its way to you. POLICE INVESTIGATION: GOSHAWK SHOT ON NOVEMBER 8, a goshawk was found injured by a member of the public near Whiterashes, north of Aberdeen. It died before arriving to the vet. Constable Ann Ashman, of the Wildlife Crime Unit, said: “Goshawks are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, and…

IN A WAY, this article winds up 2025. I was very fortunate to have bred quite a few baby parakeets during the year. In fact, at the time of writing this on November 28, I still have budgerigars, cockatiels, mutation green-cheeked conures and kakariki, all with babies. This is presumably because early November was so mild, and these species seem to be prolific breeders. What is now very important is to ensure that they get through their first winter in good condition. I tend to keep my babies with their parents for several months after they have left the nest box, as I feel they learn a great deal from their parents. They do appear much steadier than babies that are removed from their parents soon after they have weaned.…

CANARIES CAN you tell me a bit about your birdkeeping history? Birdkeeping has always played a big part in my life. My dad kept a wide variety of ornamental waterfowl – more than 50 different species at one point – so I was surrounded by birds from a young age. My first pet cage bird was a cockatiel when I was 12, and I later moved on to kakarikis and other parakeets. When we moved five years ago, I decided to build an aviary and started out with some run-of-the-mill canaries. I fancied a few more, so I attended a local table sale. While I was browsing, I came across the Irish fancy canaries and they really stood out to me. I bought two pairs, then went back the following…

PARROTS THE 504,643 hectares Paramillo National Natural Park (PNNP) occupies altitudes between 125m and 3,960m above sea level in the southern corner of the Department of Córdoba in Colombia. On its northern edge is a district called “El Diamante” (The Diamond). The name of that district excites speculation and, although its origin may be lost, today some gems of nature can still be found there. These gems are magnificent great green macaws (Ara ambiguus), which are classified as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List. This macaw has a discontinuous distribution from Honduras south to Ecuador, and BirdLife estimates the total population at between 770 and 1,540 macaws (500-1,000 mature individuals). The main threats to the species are deforestation, nest-poaching and illegal trafficking. In 2020, an estimate of the population…