# How Do I Lure A Free Canary Into A Cage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 27, 2004, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081 "2004-07-27T12:54:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081/1 "2004-07-27T12:54:58Z")
For the past 2 weeks, wehave been visited by a beautifule gold and green canary. He has been hanging around our bird feeder, and I see him sipping water from out fish pool. He is friendly, and will allow us to come pretty close tohim, although he has never perched on our hands. Obviously, he has escaped from someone’s house…and he seems tolike his freedom. However, come September-October, he is not going to be too comfortable here…I would like to catch him, for his own good. How can I do this? Put out a cage with seed in it? What do canaries like to eat? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081/2 "2004-07-27T14:26:35Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Put out a cage with seed in it? What do canaries like to eat? 😉 This is probaby your best bet. Maybe tie a long string to the door and run it out the back so you can close it from a distance once he’s in. We had a few canaries when I was growing up, and they seem to like millet, as well as fresh vegetables, like brocolli and lettuce. Millet is the primary ingredient in most pet store variety bird food. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081/3 "2004-07-27T14:30:48Z")
They also make these [bird traps](http://www.livetrap.com/cgi/search.cgi?user_id=id&database=dbase1.exm&template=products.shtml&2_option=1&2=Bird+Traps), but you could get a canary for much less. You might be able to construct one from some wire mesh. There aren’t any moving parts, apparently, and the design looks simple enough. ---
**Author:** ![Pamflitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc348/32.png) [@Pamflitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pamflitt)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081/4 "2004-07-27T15:28:29Z")
put salt on it’s tail 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081/5 "2004-07-27T19:18:24Z")
Where are you located? My dad has a parrot, named Wyn. While visiting my parents in Florida, I did some research on the bird. I was thinking of getting one of my own and was curious how they would do in the climate of Pennsylvania. The answer is that the Quaker parrot does so well in PA that they’re illegal. Apparently a few escaped pets have set up a large feral population. Before I read that, I wouldn’t have thought a tiny, tropical seeming bird could survive the winter here. Where are you located? Can you identify the type of canary? If it is an escaped pet, why not just put up posters? If (and I can’t imagine how this would happen.) Wyn somehow escaped, no cage would be necessary. Dad would just wait in the yard where it had been sighted. As soon as Wyn spotted dad, it would climb onto his shoulder and refuse to be removed. BTW- **BrachyRhynchos** is an ornithologist. **Colibri** is a biologist. They should be able to answer any questions you have on this. An Important Note- While researching Quaker parrots, I learned that certain foods that would seem safe (avocado for example) are harmful or fatal to them. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081/6 "2004-07-27T22:37:26Z")
Read him some speeches from Tom Ridge and John Ashcroft. That should make him yearn for safety and servitude. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081/7 "2004-07-28T00:09:40Z")
**AskNott**. Perhaps you forgot which forum you’re in. It’s GQ. We’ve asked people to keep politics out of GQ, as much as possible. You’ve been around here long enough to know where to post comments such as that. Your post is political and out of place. This is the second time in about a week that I"ve pointed this out to you. Consider this a final warning. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081/8 "2004-07-28T03:41:43Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > For the past 2 weeks, wehave been visited by a beautifule gold and green canary. He has been hanging around our bird feeder, and I see him sipping water from out fish pool. He is friendly, and will allow us to come pretty close tohim, although he has never perched on our hands. > Obviously, he has escaped from someone’s house…and he seems tolike his freedom. However, come September-October, he is not going to be too comfortable here…I would like to catch him, for his own good. > How can I do this? Put out a cage with seed in it? What do canaries like to eat? 😉 My suggestion: 1. Go to a pet store and buy some good quality canary seed. Sprinkle it near your fish pool in a flat spot where the bird will see it. Let him become accustomed to eating there safely. 2. Now rig a trap: a fine wire mesh basket, propped up at one end by a short stick. Position it over the seed - but don’t do anything. Keep feeding the bird for a few more days until he feels very comfortable going under the basket to get the seed. 3. Now tie a long string to the stick, and wait. When the canary goes under the mesh basket to eat, yank the string to pull the stick out and you’ve got him! (Hey, it worked for me when I was 9! I caught several pigeons this way.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081/9 "2004-07-28T03:45:51Z")
> [@artemis](#): > > 1. Now tie a long string to the stick, and wait. When the canary goes under the mesh basket to eat, yank the string to pull the stick out and you’ve got him! Come on, everyone knows Wile E. Coyote tried this several times, completely without success. Maybe if you don’t buy your birdseed, trap and string from Acme™, Inc… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081/10 "2004-07-28T04:37:30Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Where are you located? > … IIRC **ralph124c** is here in the greater Boston area. From his description I wonder if he is seeing a [budgerigar](http://rev.tamu.edu/photo/holder2/pettalk/Budgie.jpg). I have encountered escaped ones a couple of times in this area. I doubt they can make it through a typical winter up here. We hit -20 F one night last year, with many other nights well below zero. After a little searching I have found that Quaker parrot is another name for the monk parakeet. They are famous for having established feral populations at least as far north as CT. They seem to prefer urban areas. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081/11 "2004-07-28T04:38:40Z")
I would think some one going by the name of **Artemis** would know better ways of trapping animals. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-lure-a-free-canary-into-a-cage/257081/12 "2004-07-28T11:56:44Z")
My wife and nephew captured a beautiful parakeet last week that appeared in exactly the same fashion – he came to the bird feeder along with dozens of local song birds, but when anyone approached, all of the other birds flew away and he stayed behind. Obviously, he is somebody’s pet – he even sits happily on a finger. They tried the baited-cage method with no success. The only way that worked was for my nephew to use the pool skimmer net on a 16’ pole. Worked like a charm.