No magic, just patience, persistence and a bit of empathy! :)

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mMqll8J1qd_Jhqc.html

Haha, now that you say it - perhaps that would have been a better title indeed! :D

he already is a beauty birb

Ni y

That's lovely! We're glad :)

@@leporellothegoldfinch keep up the good work, always looking forward to your videos XD

My pleasure! Joy is doubled when its shared :)

Awww! :)

Happy to hear that :) Good point about the King Kong size ratio - that is such an empathetic way of looking at it. Greetings to Gigi!

Gigi sent back his regards. Unfortunately I can't put enough time as I arrive home at 18.00 every day except weekends. In the weekends I do.. but it seems it is not enough. The thing is that he gets used to being alone all day, then when he sees me its as if he has forgotten me. I will keep trying as much as I can. Keep up the good vids..

Hey! No worries if in the beginning it seems as if he's forgotten you - it was the same with Leporello at first. If you can only spend 1-2 hours with your bird per day, progress is to be measured in weeks and months, rather than days. Even if it takes a while (and of course it takes the longer, the less time you have, which is completely fine!) - goldfinches are incredibly capable of bonding with their owner. So with lots of love and patience, Gigi will get there eventually. There is no way around it! :)

My pleasure! :)

Hi Maquel, thank you for your kind words! Always here to help :)

@@leporellothegoldfinch i am now tuned to your chanel to learn about Goldfinch how to be friends with😉 i have two, think male and female. But not sure about the male. I think both female. They are young, about six months i heard .

How sweet is that! I would love to see a video of your siskin!

@@leporellothegoldfinch Sure thing. 🙂 I don't have any high quality edits like yours, and I haven't recorded the described talk, but here - I've compiled a video from some of my photos and recordings → watch?v=G0SJ5wbEJps I've added some time stamps. As for the part in 13:55 - I know putting hand in isn't the way to go. However, he strongly prefers staying in his cage and playing with his toy mirror. Ever since I got him the mirror, he just sticks to it most of the time. Anyway, this wing vibration thing is a behaviour I'm not yet familiar with. I've had him for 2 years, and he only started doing that recently, and mostly after asking me to do something - he has this way of jumping towards me and looking at me intensely. It's about food mostly, but sometimes he does that right after getting food, so the second thing I choose is to clean his perch a bit. Anyway, this isn't exactly the angry pose, as when he felt threatened he would obviously spread the wings and open his beak. Perhaps you are familiar with this particular gesture. He still eats apple slices directly from my hand. Perhaps he's agitated because my newborn daughter joined us recently, I'm not sure.

​@@IgnazioMozzarella ​ @Ignazio Mozzarella Thank you so much for uploading this, what a lovely companion you have! - The wing-shaking behaviour you describe is begging behaviour. Usually it's lost after adolescence, but some adult birds return to it, especially when we reward them for it with treats! (Leporello does it very occasionally, too.) - If I may just give you some piece of advice, it would be to remove the mirror from his cage - he's clearly in need of a companion, and birds can develop both bad crop infections as well as psychological issues from "interacting" with mirrors. Since you appear to have a family and probably spend considerable time away from your siskin, I'd strongly recommend getting him a girlfriend (they don't breed in captivity if no nest is provided)! Finches are very social animals and do much better if kept in pairs. (Leporello is a huge exception and I wouldn't keep him alone if I didn't have to. Just a thought!) Since your lovely siskin is already tame, you also wouldn't have to worry about him becoming more difficult to interact with, since he's already bonded to you anyway. Just some thoughts!

@@leporellothegoldfinch Thank you for the insight. 🙂 I actually spend a lot of time with the bird, as I work at home and spend a lot of time here with him half a meter next to me for almost the entirety of his waking day. Obviously, there are some breaks for workout or talking a walk with the girl, but other than that I'm with him almost all the time, even when helping with the baby. Still, I do consider getting him a companion. I do own a separate cage I could use to get them accustomed to each other, even though I have very little space to accomodate both cages right now. I actually do look for suitable females from time to time, but, so far, I have not found a single offer with a female here (in Poland). The little guy had actually bred in captivity before, and had kids of his own. I adopted him from his second owner when he was 4 years old (he is 6 now). I reckon I would have to remove the basket with nesting material, then. He does seem to love it and the toy mirror (most of the time he interacts with the bell alone nowadays, and he started to look out through the window more). 😓 I guess I could at least attach the bell to something else.

@@leporellothegoldfinch Hello again! This was great timing for reminding me to look for a female. I've managed to find one, and the previous owner actually had a visit in my city this week. I'm now keeping the hopefully future couple close together in separate cages. My old fiery guy seems to be quite shy. 😂 Fortunately, the young female seems to be adjusting quite fine. I have also removed the mirrors as per your suggestion, along with the baskets/nests. Thanks again!

Thank you for your kind words. Greetings from Austria

@@leporellothegoldfinch Have you been raising the goldfish since he was a little chick?

What a clever fellow you have there! :D

Yes, some birds can be "anchored" by a bird they are bonded with. In fact this is how breeders in North Africa let their goldfinches and other birds fly free. They just keep their mate in the cage and rely on the bird returning for companionship.

Leporello the Goldfinch - Birdtaming Tips & Tricks and how people race pigeons

If you referring to free flight (= out of cage time): Definitely. If you are seriously demanding that captive-bred birds with no survival skills be set free in the wild: This is lethal to captive-bred birds, dangerous to the native ecosystem and also illegal in most countries for this reason. Please educate yourself.

In the wild bird are more likely to die

Hi there, wild birds cannot be tamed. Their natural instinct is too strong, and they will suffer their entire lives if they have to spend it in captivity. I recommend you release him in a place where there are other goldfinches, and get a goldfinch from a breeder instead. Only birds who have been bred in captivity (the more generations, the better) will get as trusting as the bird in the video.

Hi there, you are absolutely right, finches should always be kept in pairs! Leporello is bit of a special case - I got him from a breeder who couldn't socialise him, no matter what. All subsequent attempts to introduce him to other birds failed as well (but I keep trying periodically). Thankfully, I work from home and also spend most of my leisure time here, so Leporello gets lots of interaction and is only ever alone for three to four hours a day, max.

Ah interesting. A very cute special case he is. I would love to get just one finch and have a strong bond with him or her. Although I feel even my 4-5 hours at home everyday may not be enough. Do you think it would be fine to get a single canary as a winged friend with the time I have available? As I read canaries can be kept alone.

I totally understand your wish! Canaries are finches, too, and thus generally do a lot better if they are kept in a pair. Often, people will only buy one bird because they think that a pair cannot be tamed, but this isn't true. A pair of birds is actually easier to tame because one bird is always more courageous than the other and the more timid one will be encouraged by the braver one. More importantly however, you can have as strong a bond with a pair of canaries as you would have with a single bird - and they are actually much more fun as a couple! Birds, even small ones like canaries, are very intelligent creatures, and they need lots of interaction and stimulation to be happy and healthy... 4-5 hours at home sounds a lot, but how many of these hours would you realistically want to spend with a canary on a daily basis? That would be a good question to ponder. After all, we humans have our jobs, our families, our friends, our commitments, our hobbies - but our birds only have us!

Thank you for your response. I will end up getting two now so that they are not lonely when I’m not around.

Awesome! Anything else I can help you with, just let me know :) All the best!

No, he absolutely hates them, haha! If I try so much as get close to his head, all hell breaks lose. Goldfinches do not like being touched in general. The backrub at night is the very rare exception.

Don't worry, if you have a canary or any kind of finch, this is normal! In fact, the vast majority of birds outside the parrot family prefer not to be touched. Leporello is sleepy in this video, but if I try to pet him during the day, all hell breaks loose! They do the same thing to other goldfinches, by the way - they're just not keen on physical contact.

Yes, so I heard that finches don't like to be touched (my girl is some mix of canary and "domestic" goldfinch, according to previous owner). But Leporello allows you to kiss him! And mine bird hops off when he sees my finger slowly coming closer, eh. And she can peck at my glasses, fingers, nose and ears and I allow that - it's so unfair ;) I read in comments that you taught your bird to poop in the proper places. I'm waiting for a move how to achieve that (and maybe there is one but I overlooked - I found your channel last night and I'm going to see all the movies:)). My girl poops where she sits - and it happens that outside cage she sits mostly on my arm. I haven't figured out whether she gives any signs that she will poop, so tha I could return her to the cage for that moment. I's probably the only dark side of having a free-flying bird in the room, as far as I can say ;)

Oh yes, the kisses thing - I don't know why he tolerates this, to be honest! This is going to sound funny, but perhaps you could attach a bit of millet to the side of your glasses - your little friend won't be able to resist and begin to associate your face with an even more positive experience :) After a while she should tolerate closeness even without the millet. As for the house-training thing, let's just say that it works to some degree, but not perfectly. If you interact with your bird, you'll notice that she'll get more restless after a while. Small birds have fast metabolisms, so they just have to "go" every ten to fifteen minutes or so. They will "go" much more often when they are nervous, but hold it in when they are relaxed. They also slightly fluff their bum feathers before they have to go, so if you watch your bird's body language, I think you'll be able to figure it out! I housetrained Leporello by rewarding him when he did his business over his cage, and I'll reinforce that every now and again by placing him back there when I see him looking suspicious, just so he won't forget. - Other than that, tissues are a bird owner's best friend! Lovely speed-drawing videos on your channel, by the way! :)

Yes, the kisses thing - it's so cute :) Well, then I suppose I'll simply wait and maybe she will allow for kiss some day :) It's not the matter that she's afraid of me, she pecks at me willigly enough without any encouragement, but it must be she who touches me, not the other way around. And as for the house-training, I'll try to do as you write, some day watch her constantly and try to catch the moment. I noticed that in the morning she leaves almost no "gifts" on me, and in the afternoon her metabolism is more active ;) So afternoon will be best for training session. Thanks for advice and best for Leporello :)

Thanks for your advice. He does get enough sleep - he falls asleep when it gets dark and gets up an hour or so after sunrise. Only on days when he falls asleep outside the cage, I briefly wake him up to put him back into his cage. The whole process doesn't take longer than 2-3 minutes, so no harm done!

Tame him! :) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/e8qoaLur27XWoGg.html

Usually yes. Leporello is an exception, he couldn't be socialised with other birds (which is how I got him).

@@leporellothegoldfinch ooh ok

Leporello is named after my favourite character in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni.

@@leporellothegoldfinch Why did you delete the videos of the Canary will you ever put those videos back up? I really liked seeing that canary’s pretty colors

Short answer: Please visit a vet ASAP. There are no home remedies.

@@leporellothegoldfinch i don't anderstand please explique

Vous devez aller chez le vétérinaire le plus tôt possible.

Not for a million dollars. Hell, not for all the money in the world. Who in their right mind would sell their friend?!

Leporello the Goldfinch - Birdtaming Tips & Tricks I was just kidding