Hello, Frank Indiviglio here. Male canaries (Serinus canaria), long prized for their beautiful songs, may have unique learning abilities that explain their outstanding performances. Most birds acquire singing abilities by listening to others of their kind early in life…without appropriate role models, they fail to develop normal songs. Young canaries, however, seem able to switch [...]

Research conducted at New York’s Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (Nature: May, 2009) has, for the first time, illustrated the complex interplay of genetics, learning and social situation in the acquisition of birdsong. 
Learning What Song to Sing
As is true for all birds studied, zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) raised in isolation from others of their kind fail [...]

See Part 1 of this article: Taming and Training Canaries and Other Finches, Part I
Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.
Last time we discussed some finch training basics…getting your pet to calm down when near people and out of its cage. Please see Part I of this article for further details.
Returning to the Cage
As mentioned in Part I [...]

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.
When we think of tame birds, it is most often the parrots and mynas that come to mind. Canaries and other finches, on the other hand, are largely thought of as pets to enjoy for their bright colors, active ways and cheerful songs. To a great extent, these perceptions hold true…but not [...]

Research this month (June, 2008) at Japan’s Keio University has proven what pet keepers have long known – that birds possess much more intelligence than they are given credit for.
The work showed that pigeons have a well developed sense of “self”, and can distinguish their own images from those of another pigeon after a delay [...]

Researchers at the University of Bristol determined this month (May, 2008) that starlings and other birds moved away from feeders if watched by people, but continued feeding if the observers remained just as close to the feeders, but turned their eyes away.
Interesting….but I think bird keepers have known this to be true for quite some [...]