Every year, around 11 November, our Italian friends organise an exceptional exhibition dedicated to passeriformes. “The Hornemanni Middle European Club is a technical club that inspired Hornemanni France to pursue the dream of international development of its late founder, Paolo Gregorutti, a world-renowned breeder and judge. In partnership with Hornemanni Italy, Hornemanni France is moving forward with the same objectives: To help breeders in the speciality by sharing knowledge, experience and expertise.
Photo bank: Guy Doumergue and Jean-Michel Eytorff
Male Red-headed Bullfinch(Pyrrhula erythrocephala ) exhibited to my knowledge for the first time. A species never before seen on a farm.
Female Red-headed Bullfinch(Pyrrhula erythrocephala )
Between 1,400 and 1,800 birds are exhibited each year. Many species are never exhibited in France. Judging takes place on Saturday morning, and the show is open to the public on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. As the birds are housed on the Friday, they do not remain in their show cages for long, which is particularly positive for their well-being and for limiting stress.
The organisation is perfect. Everyone knows what they have to do. I was lucky enough a year ago to be asked to judge this exhibition, which was a great moment!
The European fauna is largely represented, but not exclusively. Pictured here is a stam of male Venezuelan Red Siskins (Spinus cucullatus – Red Siskin)
The hall is splendid and very bright. The aisles allow the many visitors to move around easily.
The bullfinches (Pyrrhula pyrrhula – Eurasian Bullfinch) were well represented. The best birds will go on to compete for the COM world title a few months later.
It was in Udine that the first Alder Tarin (Spinus spinus – Eurasian Siskin) was exhibited by Paolo Gregorutti. Since then, Club breeders have taken over and fixed the mutation. Pictured here is a female agate, a sex-linked recessive mutation.
All the colour mutations fixed in the alder tarin (Spinus spinus – Eurasian Siskin) are generally represented. An ideal venue for high-level technical meetings.
With the discovery of agate, it was obvious that the Isabelle mutation would appear sooner or later. And now it has. Pictured here is a female Isabelle, a sex-linked recessive trait. Isabelle is obtained by open crossing with a Brown Agate double carrier male. Brown and Agate are both sex-linked and recessive factors.
Many lovers of ancestral wildlife are exhibiting in Udine. Pictured here is a beautiful stam of female alder tarins (Spinus spinus – Eurasian Siskin)
The Topaz factor has also been combined with the true Agate factor. The Topaze factor is autosomal recessive. Pictured is an Agate Topaze female.
One species that can usually only be seen at top foreign shows: the Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator)
The European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) and its subspecies, including the subspecies major (Carduelis carduelis frigoris), are displayed in their ancestral colours and in a number of colour mutations
This bird, a male European Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) with the Isabelle yellowbill mutation, a combination of the sex-linked recessive Isabelle factor and the autosomal recessive yellowbill factor, exhibited by a Croatian breeder, was judged best in show in the greenfinch category. A mutation that I know perfectly well because it was born for the first time in my kennel. After 10 years working on this mutation through selection and having fixed it on all the existing mutations in the European Greenfinch, it was a pleasure to see that it was represented at Udine!
A must-see species at the Hornemanni Show: the Common Redpoll (Acanthis hornemanni – Arctic Redpoll)
Blackbirds and thrushes are well represented in Udine. Some “exotic” species are rare in breeding.
Exotic” greenfinches can also be admired. Pictured here is an Oustalet greenfinch (Chloris ambigua – Black-headed Greenfinch)
To conclude this modest report, keep in mind that in November each year, a trip to the north of Italy, just a few dozen kilometres from Venice, can give you the chance to spend a pleasant weekend admiring the species that fascinate you!