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A true tale about interspecies interactions...

When my son was an infant, my canary at the time, Bing (who has sinced passed into the great beyond after nearly 14 years of faithful service) was in his vocal prime and gave long concerts of trills, chirps, and soaring crescendos. The baby picked up the trill sound and the two of them would often stimulate each other to sing. The canary trill was the first recognizable sound the baby made. He learned to speak canary before he learned any English.

As my son grew, he developed the habit of doing what he calls "imagining". He makes all kinds of sounds - sirens, hoots, and trills - while in his head he is soaring through outerspace or racing submarines, or whatever little boys do in their heads. Usually the pattern of his noises follows the distinctive pattern of Bing's trilling, chirping concerts!

Bing was free flying. His cage door was usually left open and he spent most of his time sitting in a sunny window. He was not hand tame, but he would buzz my head if I was late with his breakfast or if I was eating something green and he wanted a piece. The evening before he died, Bing followed me around, landing on top of the refrigerator when I opened it, landing on the tabletop near me - completely uncharacteristic behavior. So I sat that evening near his cage, just reading, and he sat on the floor of it near me. The next morning he was gone. I can only think he knew his time was up and he was saying good bye.

After Bing died, we got a new canary, Blaze, a beautiful bird but not much of a singer. He initially would only sing when the dishwasher or kitchen faucet was running. However, the boy's "imagining' sessions, which can get quite loud, often stimulate Blaze to sing and Blaze is picking up some of the boy's "song" patterns, which originated with Bing. Thus, Blaze is learning to sing from Bing through the kid! Once we realized this, the boy started purposefully giving Blaze singing lessons. Blaze is no Bing, but he is singing more frequently and with greater variety within his songs.

I just thought fellow bird lovers might find this story interesting.

Ann

Fourteen years is a good, long life for a canary. Very impressive. I was a bit skeptical when I read in Bird Talk about allowing canaries to fly free in the house, but you are living proof that it works.

Here's to hoping that little Cloud might find a miracle and rally for a few more years in your loving home.

Joanne

How funny! My tiels do know all of the other species' songs, and the IRN is learning. Hard to tell who is singing sometimes.