Once I had seen the picture of Lizard Canary, when I bought a book about how to breed canary, in around 1993 or 1995, I'm just falling in love to this bird kind. I thought it was very admirable bird by the feather's color and pattern type, which so unique. Then for couple years later, I found another pictures of this bird.
In 2005, I started buy this bird, in Malang. It was a male one, with a very loud sound when it is singing. I brought this bird to Jakarta, as I have to stay and work by assigment in there for couple years.
When I feel get bored with this bird, I just handed over this bird to the friend of mine in Surabaya, which still doing the breeding of canaries. I thought this bird should stay and had a positive purpose, better than in the hand of the person who just get its songs only for everyday.
It was a quiet right decision, because after he received this bird, he bought several similar birds for breeding the pure lizard strain.
When I think I had now, the time to be spent for the breeding, I just asked him to give a couple of lizard, product of his farm. So I got a couple to start. I choose to start with chicks, so I can make a different sound and song of it when it is grew up later. This couple is becoming the starter birds of my farm for the lizard strain. It is very miserable moment for me, to wait for the sound its creates, as I had put a yellow rumped serins and a prinia close to it everyday for the song's patron. I have to wait for about more than 1 year to hear its loud sounds of the male, and 1 year and a half more for the hen for starting lays its first eggs. Whoa, what a long waiting period. It was more than the average required time for common other local canaries to learn the songs [usually its only takes about 6 months].
I put some images of the birds I breed. You can see an unique breed color mutant in the image, as the hen is a gold lizard [also the cock's], but it produced a chick with little bit close to silver lizard. The chick in the picture is about 25 days old, and it is now about 8 weeks old in this early June 2009. I think it will changes its plumage's color when it grew adult, after its first moulting, first when I realize its different color. I do not know yet, I just wait for that.
For the time being, it is starting to learn how to sing and I put some patron birds for this purpose. A main song will be came from a Grey Finch, a Weaver for scratchy sound and a Prinia for additional twitty sounds. I hope all of the patron's sounds/songs will be coppied permanently then. I just have to wait until a year at least for having see and hear the result of this unique effort.
This image is showing the chicks of Lizards Canary, male, being in the 'mastering' proccess. They were placed near the patrons. From left to right: Lizard [2 months old chick], Grey Finch [a year old], Lizard [4 months old]. Actually, the patron was not just the Grey Finch only, I also put a Love Bird, a Weaver, a bar Winged Prinia and a Yellow Rumped Serin/Black Throated Canary for this 'Songs Reproduction Proccess'. The one I made before, last year, took fully a year of period to made the lizards copied the songs. This only applied at pure lizard, as long as I knew. When I tried to make a different song produced by hybrid Lizard [crossed with fancy or local canary], it took 3-4 months only. Once it can sings a little bit louder when it reached 5 months old, it was a fact that it produced quiet good reproduction songs of Yellow Rumped Serins & Prinia.
This first one is a Lizard Canary, Sex: Male, Age: about 2 - 3 months old. It is now starting to sing in low volume, a wind sound like. It has no full yellow cap. Came from pure couple of Gold Lizard parents, the second successful breed. The cock Lizard is 1 year and a half old and the hen is 2 years old. It was funny how it learns how to pick the foods as it has been abandoned since it got 4 weeks old age, as the parent has been taken from it. I realy concern to watch over it learns how to feed itself. If it Could not do it, then it will be die soon.
This is the patron bird, a Grey Singing Finch, used to be called 'Edel Sanger' in Indonesia. It sings loud enough and rapidly, and so very often during the day. Enough for the 'students' to follow its songs. The Grey Finch, for the time being is becoming very rare in Indonesia. The import tap already locked off and the breeders prefers to breed Yellow Rumped Serins rather than this Grey Finch [commercial reasons].
The last image is a Lizard Canary, Male, 4-5 months. Used to sing quarter to half loud as compared to adult sounds. It is the same breed as the other bird in the image on second above. It was the first one. So it came from the same couple Gold Lizard. It has full yellow cap, but the yellow colors on the cap and whole body seems paler than its brother. Duller yellow color. Looks like some influence in fenotype of Silver Lizard.
