February 14, 2012 - Competitive finch warbling

[sandypossum]

Behold the Flemish hobby of "vinkenzetten", also known as "finch sport" or "concours de pinsons"

Vinkenzetten is a competition whereby finchers (finch owner/trainers) sit with a finch cage along a path with about 2 metres between fincher and finch. They count how many songs the finch sings in one hour, and mark this with chalk stripes on a special wooden stick. The finch cages have opaque glass windows, so that the finch has nothing to distract it. This way, undisturbed, it will sing as many songs as possible. The finches much sing the correct song; young finches learn the song by listening to experienced older birds. Some learn them from listening to recordings. If they sing other songs, these do not count. The winner is the owner of the finch that sings the most correct songs.

I have not been able to find any English language websites with info on this hobby (but haven't looked too hard yet). I first heard about it when I lived in the Netherlands. The Dutch have a bit of an amused attitude toward the Belgians, and I have to admit, this sort of thing does not help their cause to be taken more seriously.