National Cage Bird Show -Novice Breeders

My intention with writing this article is to bring to the attention of every officer, board of director and member of every canary club in America to address how they intend to continually promote and acknowledge the novice canary aficionado.

Ladies and gentlemen, we must move in a positive direction as relates to the solicitation and promotion of the novice in the canary fancy or the fancy as we once knew it, will continue on its path of non-existence!

The first Friday of May, a well-publicized meeting took place hosted by a local Chicagoland bird club which was founded in 1939. The name of the club is NIROC which is the acronym for the National Institute of Red Orange Canaries, was obviously formed to promote and improve upon the Colorbred Canary. As it evolved, it encompassed all other canaries which were those breeds of Type and Song. I mention this because most all-variety bird clubs formed in this country from day-one were founded by a majority of canary fanciers above all other breeds of our avian-friends.

A debut multimedia presentation took place at this NIROC meeting on The History of the Canary – Part One. There really was no point in holding a meeting and I’ll tell you why in a bit. The presentation indeed took place and was a success. A success in all aspects except that there were only 8 people in attendance! There were two NIROC Board Members as well as myself and 5 other people, all canary fanciers of which 2 were a husband and wife who were brand new members to the club.

The third Friday in May, another well-publicized meeting took place hosted by another local Chicagoland bird club which also happens to be one of the oldest clubs in the entire country, founded in 1938! The name of the club is GCCBC which is the acronym for Greater Chicago Cage-Bird Club.

It too was founded with the majority of the founders being canary fanciers above all other breeds of birds. In fact, some of these same founders were instrumental in the founding and formation of our most prestigious bird club in North America named the National Cage Bird Club, way back when!

The second performance of the very same multimedia presentation took place at this meeting at the request and invitation by this club’s kind president. I must state here that 99.98% of those in attendance at this meeting were NOT canary fanciers or exhibitors of canaries. There must have been by rough count, about 60+ people in the meeting hall.

Bob Wild, the president of the club is a major player in the canary fancy having won many Kellogg Trophies at the NCBS and many other awards for his high-quality canaries over the years. He was presiding at this meeting as was one other canary fancier. This other canary fancier’s name is Bob Ziegler. Bob’s parents had won 18 Kellogg Trophies, if I remember correctly, as has he for their lovely canaries. Bob Ziegler is also on the Board of Directors of the GCCBC.

At this meeting, prior to my giving my canary presentation there was a request by the president of the club asking if there were any first-time visitors in the meeting hall. One gentleman stood up and presented himself as a ‘newbie’ who was interested in canaries. He was asked how he came by knowing of the club and replied that he did a GOOGLE search on the Internet for canary clubs in the Chicago area and so there he was! He came to learn and then to decide what kind of canaries he wanted to get started with.

The GCCBC has two of its members on the Board of the NCBS and it’s too bad neither was in attendance to promote the National and its upcoming show at this meeting or talk canaries since no one approached this ‘newbie’ to court him into getting started with either the Type, Color or Song Canaries. There were even two prominent Gloster canary fanciers who have won awards over the years, in attendance in the meeting hall, yet had scooted out of there just prior to the meeting starting, who also could have been there to assist this potential novice! It seems, in this writer’s opinion that both these clubs have ‘evolved’ with the times.

GCCBC has evolved from what was a large contingent of serious canary breeders and exhibitors to now many pet, companion and ‘second-home’ bird owners with a huge following of bird rescue care-givers. That’s great and I applaud the hard work that goes into keeping a club going during these times. However, we need more to be done for the canary enthusiast or they will just stay away.

NIROC was always getting smaller and smaller beginning when its president at the helm retired to Arizona and it now has less than 50 members. Its current president recently resigned due to health issues and its vice-president is rarely at meetings which were getting less and less members showing up. The June meeting was cancelled when only 3 people showed up; a Board member and 2 canary fanciers! No sense in renting a meeting hall for that!

The point to writing this is to get canary fanciers thinking what they can do to attract the novice canary fancier to the fold. If this is happening in my ‘back yard’, what’s happening in the rest of the country? Pretty much the same thing from what I hear!

The hard workers who have over the years set up the show staging and acted as show officials, secretaries, stewards and the such are getting old or passing on to that bird lover sanctuary in the sky and we need new blood to carry on some of these responsibilities. How do we attract them and once we get them in the fold, how do we keep them on it as active and participating members?


Novice, Jorge Rojas holding his bred and banded NCBC 2^nd Best Consort
Photo at left is a close-up photo of that beautiful Gloster which also was the 6^th Best Gloster In Show as well as the Best Novice Gloster In Show
Photos by National Bird Designs, Inc. - Donald Perez

Let me add one last story about the novice shown in the photos accompanying this article. This novice had joined the Gloster Clubs here in America last year as well as both our local Chicago bird clubs. He had also built up the courage to exhibit for the first time at the National just last fall.

This novice Gloster breeder exhibited in what was his second event in less than 2 weeks and was competing against what was to suppose to be some of the finest Gloster exhibitors and champions in North America with a strong contingent in from Canada as well. This brave novice who was a member of all these clubs including the NCBS had a sweet Consort that not only won as the Second Best consort in Show but also Sixth Best Gloster in Show and also Best Novice Gloster in Show. The pathetic thing was that neither he or his winning Gloster was recognized by ANY Gloster club with an award, certificate, mention or even a handshake for having bred, banded and exhibited the Best Novice Gloster at the National other than from one club?

That’s right! To this day as I type this article, the ONLY club that recognized this novice was the United Gloster Club who’s Secretary/Treasurer, Barbara Rosario had sent him a couple of certificates in the mail! He is also shown on their website presentation of the 2006 NCBS Gloster Winners for the world to applaud!

This article is not written to chastise any club but to get club officers, board directors and members of the fancy to wholeheartedly begin recognizing the novice and encouraging them to breed, band and exhibit canaries! Get them involved in activities; I assure you that you will not regret it!

This novice I mention in this article along with his 3 brothers all have and breed canaries and guess what, none of them showed up at either of these two club meetings where I conducted these canary presentations nor have they shown up prior! I wonder why!

From the local to the national level, more attention MUST be given to soliciting to and making the novice welcome. More encouragement, acknowledgement, recognition and awards must be dedicated to the novice. More write-ups should be done in club newsletters about the novice members and their achievements in their clubs.

The sooner we ALL begin to address the value of the novice in the canary fancy, the sooner we can see an increase in the numbers of canary aficionados, breeders and exhibitors here in North America! Come on folks; let’s hear it for the novice!!!

To that end, I have recently accepted the position of Interim-president of NIROC and will do all I can to get this club back up to what it once was with a special focus on the novice being the first item on my agenda. National Bird Designs, Inc. will also be making

available to interested clubs, NBD – AVI-CULTURE plaques for Best Novice in Show; please e-mail me at: information@avi-culture.com for full qualifying details!