Vinkensport

In a contest, a row of small cages, each housing a single male finch, is lined up approximately six feet apart along a street. The proximity of the cages increases the number of calls, as the birds sing for mates and to establish territory. A timekeeper begins and ends the contest with a red flag. Every time a bird sings a correct terminating flourish to their call—most often transcribed as susk-e-wiet—a tally mark in chalk is made on a long wooden stick. The bird singing its song the most times during one hour wins the contest. Champion finches regularly sing hundreds of calls in contests. == History and practices ==

The earliest known records of vinkeniers are from 1596 (with some sources advocating a slightly earlier 1593 origin) with Flemish merchants competing. Vinkeniers use a variety of methods to increase the number of calls in their birds. Techniques to develop singing aptitude include selective breeding programs, high-protein diets, and stimulating them with music and recordings of bird song. As wild finches generally begin singing during the spring mating season, keepers may also use artificial lights placed in aviaries to encourage increased song. While minute regional differences (a.k.a. dialects) in song have been observed in the chaffinch (also within Belgium), the differences have only been reliably distinguishable by the use of sonograms. Taxonomically, there are no officially recognized subspecies of chaffinch within Belgium. Caribbean and South American-based contests Speed-singing contests for finches are also a common event in Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname and Brazil. The male finches are placed in cages on poles about one foot apart. The first finch to reach 50 songs wins. The illegal importation of these finches from immigrants of these countries has challenged authorities in New York City. Cheating incidents As with other sports, vinkensport has had its cheating scandals, as well as accusations of artificial enhancement. One finch sang a record 1,278 susk-e-weits in one hour, and the owner was later accused of doping the bird with testosterone. In 1920, a campaign by blind World War I veterans banned the practice, and today the birds are kept in small wooden boxes that let air in but keep distractions out. Modern animal rights activists, such as those from the Flemish Bird Protection Society, accuse trainers of "brainwashing" birds into singing more than is natural or healthy by playing looped recordings of finch calls, and that caging birds in the intentionally small and dark contest boxes is cruel. The finch is a popular aviary bird in many countries and it is forbidden in the European Union to catch birds in the wild, despite vinkeniers purporting that wild birds sing better than captive ones. Though chaffinch populations are currently not considered to be threatened, a 2002 court case at the Belgian Constitutional Court upheld a 1979 EU law banning the capture of wild finches. == See also ==