Africa Wild Bird Book

[Michele Nel]

873. Forest Canary Crithagra scotops (Gestreepte Kanarie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Fringillidae

Forest Canary.jpg (19.61 KiB) Viewed 1740 times

Description
This canary is slightly smaller than a sparrow. It is a dark canary with bold streaks on both upper-and underparts. Olive green above with brown streaks. Black mask from lores to chin. Yellow small eyebrow. Yellow below with green wash; olive streaks on breast and flanks. The bill is pale.
The male has a yellow throat patch.
The female lacks the throat patch, is duller, greyer on the face and the yellow eyebrow is not as broad. The underparts are more heavily striked.

Distribution
Endemic to South Africa marginally extending into Lesotho and Swaziland, occurring from Limpopo Province south to KwaZulu-Natal and down to the Cape. This species inhabits patches of Afromontane and coastal forest from the Cape Peninsula, Western Cape to Polokwane, Limpopo Province.



Taxonomy
There are three subspecies:
C. s. scotops the nominate ssp. from low-altitude (eastern) KwaZulu-Natal and coastal Eastern Cape, the Amatola Mountains
C. s. transvaalensis Afromontane forests of Limpopo Province and long the escarpment of Mpumalanga, breast darker and more strongly streaked than nominate
C. s. umbrosa occurring to the west of the nominate subspecies. Coastal forests of southern Western Cape and Afromontane forests of Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal (>1000 m), upper parts darker green than nominate, underparts duller and eyebrow shorter.

Habitat
It generally prefers patches of indigenous forest and coastal thicket in valley bushveld, sometimes moving into adujacent dense vegetation to forage, such as tall Protea woodland, patches of tall shrubs such as Gonna (Passerina vulgaris), orchards, well-wooded gardens and alien tree plantations.

Diet
It mainly eats seeds, fruit, flowers and leaves, doing most of its foraging on the ground or in vegetation, plucking food directly from plants.

Breeding
Monogamous territorial usually solitary nester, although two nests were once recorded to be only two metres apart. The nest is built by the female, consisting of a bulk cup of moss and fine stems, lined with fibrous lichen and typically placed in the fork of a tall shrub or small tree on the forest edge. Egg-laying season is from October-March. It lays 2-4 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 14 days. The chicks are fed by the female with food provided by the male, leaving the nest after about 15-19 days.

Call
Brisk warbling; contact call tsit. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Locally common endemic.

[Michele Nel]

873. Forest Canary Crithagra scotops

© Michele Nel

© Flutterby
Kirstenbosch, Cape Town

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2

[Flutterby]

870. Black-throated Canary Crithagra atrogularis, Serinus atrogularis (Bergkanarie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Fringillidae

Black-throated Canary.jpg (121.73 KiB) Viewed 1775 times

Description
Length 12-14 cm. Sexes alike. A pale grey canary, heavily streaked with dark brown on the upperparts, with a bright yellow rump (diagnostic in flight) and white tail tips. The black-speckled throat is most obvious during breeding (sometimes hardly any black). Rest of underparts buffy white, lightly streaked brownish on breast and flanks. Tail relatively short, tipped and edged white. Iris brown; bill horn, base pinkish; legs and feet pinkish brown.
Juvenile: Similar to adult, but more boldly streaked below.

Distribution
Occurs from Uganda through southern DRC, Angola and Zambia to much of southern Africa excluding Mozambique, the Kalahari, fynbos biome and the southern Karoo.

Habitat
Thornveld, savanna, dry, broadleafed woodland, and near waterholes in dry regions.

Diet
The diet includes primarily seeds but they also take flowers, nectar, tree sap and insects, particularly termite alates.

Breeding
Usually a monogamous territorial solitary nester, although four birds were once recorded building a single nest. The nest is built by both sexes in roughly six days, consisting of a cup made of dry grass, petioles, Asparagus tendrils and fine twigs lined with soft material, mainly plant down but also hair, wool and feathers. It is typically placed in the upright fork of a tree branch, a bunch of pine cones or the base of a palm frond. Egg-laying season is almost year-round, peaking from about October-March. The eggs are white or pale greenish blue, plain or sparingly spotted with black, brown and purple mainly at thick end.The female lays 2-4 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 12-15 days. The chicks are brooded solely by the female but fed by both parents, leaving the nest after about 15-17 days.

Call
Sustained rich jumble of trills and whistles, which include mimicry. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
A common resident, subject to local movements in the interior parts of South Africa.

[Flutterby]

870. Black-throated Canary Crithagra atrogularis


©Flutterby
Pilanesberg

© ExFmem
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

© ExFmem

© Sharifa & Duke

© Michele Nel
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, 14th Borehole

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/spp_summary.ph ... &section=3

[Dewi]

871. Lemon-breasted Canary Crithagra citrinipectus (Geelborskanarie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Fringillidae

Lemon-breasted Canary.jpg (22.4 KiB) Viewed 1694 times

Description
Length 12 cm, mass 10-13 g. Both sexes have a greyish upperparts with bright lemon rump. White forehead patch with black malar stripes.
Both sexes show beard stripes. The bill is bicoloured, the upper mandible is brown/black.
Adult male: Head dark grey with white markings, nape to back grey-brown with dark brown streaks, rump yellow. Tail and flight feathers dark brown. Throat and upper breast pale lemon yellow, flanks peachy buff, belly white. Bill dark pinkish horn; eyes, legs and feet brown.
Adult female: Similar to the male, but the under parts are buff, with the breast and flanks streaked brown, the head markings are less sharp.

Distribution
Near-endemic to southern Africa, occurring from southern Malawi to patches of Mozambique, extending into south-eastern Botswana and north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal.

Habitat
Open Grassland & Palm savanna. Its entire distribution range linked to that of the Lala Palm Hyphaene coriacea. These birds are not only completely dependant on these palms on which they breed, but all the nesting material they use for the construction of their nests is derived from these plants. Interestingly, it merely uses the palm as a structure on which to conceal its nest, as they feed on grass seeds and occasionally take insects.

Diet
It mainly eats seeds, doing most of its foraging on the ground, sometimes taking food from grasses and other low vegetation.

Breeding
Monogamous solitary nester. Both adults construct the nest. The nest is a cup with a bulky foundation, made of short plant fibres, especially from Lala palms (Hyphaene coriacea) but occasionally with dead creeper stems, finely shredded bark, leaves and dried flower petals as well. It is typically placed at the base of the 'V' shape formed by a partly opened Lala palm frond, anywhere from about 1.5-7.0 m above ground. Egg-laying season is from December to February. It usually lays three eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 12-14 days. The chicks are mainly fed on a regurgitated seeds, leaving the nest after approximately 14-16 days.

Status
Locally common resident.

[Dewi]

871. Lemon-breasted Canary Crithagra citrinipectus (Geelborskanarie)


Male

Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/871.pdf
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/spp_summary.ph ... &section=3
BirdInfo
Ian Sinclair: SASOL VOELS VAN SUIDER AFRICA (3de UIT)

[Flutterby]

869. Yellow-fronted Canary (formerly known as Yellow-eyed Canary) Crithagra mozambica, Serinus mozambicus (Geeloogkanarie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Fringillidae

Yellow-fronted Canary.jpg (21.89 KiB) Viewed 1728 times

Description
12 cm. A small canary with bold facial markings. Sexes are alike. Colour varies regionally (brightest in the east).
The adult male has a grey crown and nape; yellow cheeks; dark, almost black, malar stripes; an olive-green back; streaked brown wings and tail; yellow rump and under parts. Eyes are brown; legs and feet pinkish-brown.
The adult females are similar, but are generally paler and less colourful.
Juveniles duller, have buffy yellow, lightly streaked underparts.
Similar species: Differs from Brimstone Canary by its smaller size, less robust bill, yellow rump. Lemon-breasted Canary has short, whitish (not lemon-yellow) frons, not extending behind eye, grey (not lemon-yellow) cheeks and grey (not dull olive) back, white wing bars, white (not lemon-chrome) belly, and flanks peachy (not pale yellow, washed grey). Yellow Canary larger, with heavier bill; rump olive-yellow (not bright yellow); lacks white tips to rectrices and crisply defined facial pattern.

Distribution
The Yellow-fronted canary is found throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to Ethiopia south to southern Africa, where it is common to locally abundant across Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, eastern South Africa and northern Namibia, while more scarce in Botswana, the Caprivi Strip (Namibia) and South Africa's eastern interior.

Habitat
Thornveld, mixed woodland and savanna.

Diet
Yellow-fronted canaries forage mainly on the ground, where they eat grass seeds and other small seeds, as well as some insects.

Breeding
Monogamous, usually widely-spaced solitary nester, although it may form loose colonies with three adjacent trees each with a nest. The nest is built mostly or entirely by the female, consisting of a small deep cup of tendrils, bark fibres, leaf petioles, dead seedheads of asteraceous plants, dry grass and sometimes pieces of string, bound with spider web and lined with rootlets and plant down. It is typically placed in the fork a bush, tree or creeper, roughly 1-8m above ground. Egg-laying season is from September-April, peaking from December-March. It lays 2-5 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 13-15 days while the male feeds her regularly at the nest. The chicks are brooded solely by the female who is handed food by the male for both herself and her young, who are later fed by both adults. They eventually leave the nest after about 16-24 days, remaining dependent on their parents for food for some time.

Call
Their song is a melodious, warbled series zee-zereeee-cheree, quite typically a canary’s song. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
A common to abundant resident.

[Flutterby]

869. Yellow-fronted Canary Crithagra mozambica



© Toko
Mapungubwe National Park

© Toko

© Dewi

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/spp_summary.ph ... &section=3

[Mel]

878. Yellow Canary Crithagra flaviventris, Serinus flaviventris (Gelkanarie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Fringillidae


Male

Desciption
13-14 cm. In both sexes the bills are horn-coloured, with a pink base; legs and feet are dark pinkish-brown and eyes are brown.
Males might vary from bright yellow bright yellow rumps in the north-west to dark-backed birds with greenish rumps in the south-east. The underparts, rump and tail sides are yellow. In the nominate race, the forehead, eyebrows and cheeks are yellow; crown, nape and mantle olive green with brown flecks. The eye-stripes, ear-coverts and sides of the neck are olive-khaki, and the malar stripes are olive-green. The back is olive-khaki and the rump and upper tail coverts greenish yellow. The tail and wings are dusky brown, feathers edged green or yellow. The underparts are a rich yellow; greenish yellow on the breast and greyish-yellow on the flanks. Bill horn with a pinkish base; eyes, legs and feet brown.
The female is dull-coloured with bold streaks. Grey-brown upperparts, black wings with yellow flight feathers, and a pale supercilium.
Juveniles are more heavily streaked than females and have greener upperparts. Crown, nape, mantle and back are pale greyish olive, streaked brown; eye-stripes, ear-coverts and malar stripes greyish olive; eye-brows and lower cheeks buffy white. Rump and upper tail coverts yellowish olive. Throat, breast and flanks buffy white with brown streaks.
Similar species: The bill is always slighter than that of Brimstone Canary, Brimstone Canary is larger with a heavier bill and green (not yellow) forehead; more green overall (but notice geographic variation in Yellow Canary with birds from the Cape area being greener). Brimstone Canary has a much shorter supercilium that quickly narrows behind the eye. This species is easily distinguished from the Yellow-fronted Canary by its lack of black face markings, and its bill is less heavy than that of other similar Canary species. The Yellow-fronted Canary has a more brightly contrasting yellow rump, duller yellow underparts, a white-tipped tail, and is smaller. The White-throated Canary is similar to the female Yellow Canary, but larger, has a heavier bill, is less streaked, and the yellow-green rump contrasts more with the greyish-brown back and mantle.

Taxonomy
There are four subspecies:
C. f. flaviventris: Western and southern South Africa and southern Namibia.
C. f. marshalli: Highveld (high-altitude plateau) of east-central South Africa and lowlands of western Lesotho. Male has lemon-chrome rump and underparts and greenish-tellow crown.
C. f. damarensis: North-central South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and south-western Angola. Yellower upperparts than nominate, face markings less contrasting, and rump lemon-chrome.
C. f. guillarmodi: Lesotho highlands. Larger than nominate; broader dark centres to crown and back feathers. Female: The sides of the face are darker grey than the nominate, and the throat and breast more heavily striped.

Distribution
Near-endemic to southern Africa, occurring from south-western Angola through Namibia and Botswana to much of South Africa, largely excluding the provinces in the east, common in the western arid habitats of South Africa, including most of the Eastern Cape and the North West Province.

Habitat: It generally prefers Karoo scrub, montane grassland, arid savanna and fynbos.

Movements and migrations: Resident and nomadic, sometimes migrating out of its usual distribution in drought years.

Diet: It forages on the ground or in trees for seeds, flowers, nectar and insects.

Breeding
Monogamous, territorial solitary nester, with nests spaced few and far between. The nest is built solely by the female in about 3-4 days, consisting of a cup of dry plant stems, rootlets, soft weeds, tendrils, rootlets and strips of bark. The interior is lined with softer material, such as the fluffy seeds of Karoo rosemaries (Eriocephalus) or milkweeds (Asclepias), wool and sometimes a few feathers. It is typically placed in a shrub or a small tree. Egg-laying season is almost year-round in arid areas, peaking from July-October in the Western Cape and from August-April elsewhere. The female lays a clutch of between two and five white eggs marked with brown or black, which are incubated solely by the female and hatch after an incubation period of 12-16 days. The chicks are fed both parents, leaving the nest after about 16 days.

Call
A fast, jumbled series of chissick and cheree notes.
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Crith ... aviventris

Status
A common, nomadic resident that gathers in loose flocks when not breeding.

[Mel]

878. Yellow Canary Crithagra flaviventris, Serinus flaviventris (Gelkanarie)


Male

Male

© Tina
Tankwa Karoo National Park, Elandsberg

© nan
Female

© Mel
Female

© ExFmem
Female

© Toko
Female, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/878.pdf
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/spp_summary.ph ... &section=3
Ian Sinclair: SASOL VOELS VAN SUIDER AFRICA (3de UIT)