Interesting Atlantic canary Facts:

Atlantic canary can reach 3.9 to 5.5 inches in length and 0.30 to 0.86 ounces of weight.

Atlantic canary has greenish yellow plumage with brown markings. Males have golden yellow belly with olive green markings on the chin, throat and breasts. Females are mostly grey in color with black streaks on the head and backs. Their bellies are less yellow. Young birds are brown with black stripes.

Atlantic canary has pale pink beak, brown legs and brown-greenish forked tail.

Name "canary" refers to the native habitat of this bird - Canary Islands.

Atlantic canary is an omnivore (it eats plants and meat). Its diet is mostly based on seed, flowers and buds. Insects are on the menu during the breeding season.

Atlantic canary sings all year round. Songs are especially important during the breeding season, because they attract females. Atlantic canary produces melodic songs composed of whistles, trills, twitters and churrs that can last up to 25 seconds.

Atlantic canary is gregarious bird. It lives in large flocks composed of hundreds of birds.

Mating season of Atlantic canary takes place from January to July. These birds produce 2 to 3 broods per year.

Female chooses the nesting site and constructs the nest, while male defends their territory from other canaries.

Atlantic canaries build nests in the trees. Nests are cup-shaped, made of plant material and lined with feathers and hair.

Female lays 3 to 4 bluish eggs that hatch after 13 to 14 days. Both parents participate in rearing of chicks. Young birds leave the nest 15 to 17 days after hatching. They are ready for the independent life at the age of 36 days.

Atlantic canaries are popular as house pets starting from the 15th century. Domesticated varieties are usually completely yellow and they sing more compared to Atlantic canaries in the wild. These characteristics were artificially created through the process of selective breeding.

Tweety bird, famous animated character, is actually domesticated Atlantic canary.

Miners used Atlantic canaries to detect leaking of methane gas in the coal mines in the past. Even the smallest amount of methane kills canaries, alerting the miners to escape before level of gas reaches the dose fatal for humans.