I’ve been to bird shows in all sorts of venues: great exhibition centres, sports halls, village halls, pubs and marquees, but the Club Amigos del Canario Lizard show was the first time I’ve ever seen canaries exhibited at a dance hall.
The 2025 edition was held at an hotel complex in La Carlota near Córdoba. The hotel possessed its own wedding venue which looked like a traditional Spanish building from the outside, but more like a disco on the inside. Fortunately there were no flashing lights, and the only music we heard was the song of the canaries. It proved to be an excellent venue for the show.
Judges Ernesto Gracia, John Canepa, Joe Coakley and myself had over 400 Lizards of various colours to judge plus the latest crop of London Fancies. This was my fourth visit. The format stays the same, and the show still moves from town to town, but the birds have changed since my first visit in 2018. Back then, the breeders seemed to devote most of their energies to developing the Ocelado (brown/cinnamon Lizards), but there has been a marked swing towards the classic Lizard canary, and the improvement in the overall quality of the birds has been dramatic. Their spangles and rowings are better defined, the birds have more substance, and their ground colour is much richer .
At my first show in Archena, there were good birds in most of the classes, but the quality soon dropped away. This year, the classes were overflowing with birds of real quality. In some classes, such as the clear cap golds and broken cap silvers, I had to send back birds that would have been in the top five at Archena. I often asked Jesus Carrilero, my steward, to write buen pàjaro (good bird) on the labels so that their owners would know that I had admired them.
Joe called me over to look a the clear cap silver class, and it was the same story. He hadn’t finished judging, but it was evident that this was probably the strongest class in the show. It was a real pleasure to see such depth in the quality of the Spanish Lizards.
The only real weakness of the Spanish Lizards was the lack of show training. Many birds were nervous and some wouldn’t even stand on the perches. It’s a great pity that they didn’t get a chance to display themselves at their best. White tips on the tails and wings was another frustration, particularly when I was judging the clear cap golds. I try not to be too harsh (it’s an accidental fault) but the competition was so strong that this minor defect was enough to relegate some otherwise excellent specimens.
When it came to the special awards, the judges were unanimous: Pepe’s female clear cap silver Lizard was Best in Show. She displayed her spangles to perfection; always well-defined and well-aligned. Second Best Lizard went to Kiko’s broken cap gold female and Third Best to José Maria’s colour-fed gold female.
Pepe’s victory was well deserved and very popular. I regard him as Señor Lizard, the driving force behind the popularity of the Lizard canary in Spain. His passion and commitment to the Lizard was demonstrated when he drove 5 hours to bring his birds to the show, then returned home for a family event before another 5 hour drive to be present on the Saturday. He must have been exhausted, but that didn’t stop him joining in the high-jinks at the award ceremony. It was a great ending to a wonderful weekend.
I would like to thank the Amigos for their excellent hospitality and the warm welcome we received at La Carlota. The show has a serious purpose and many Amigos work hard to make it a success, but it’s also a great social occasion and, above all, it’s fun.
Here are some more highlights of the event. Click on any photo to see it at a larger size:
And here are the major prize winners:
Great show report and great photographs of a great show. Huw you have always capture the magic of this wonderful show. Los Amigos are always up to it, year after year. And as you expertly point out, their Lizards improve year on year. We so much look forward to the next Amigos Show – and congratulations all round!!
Indeed Ernest. I just hope it doesn’t clash with the Classic next year.
Sounds like a great event