- Serinus flavivertex
Identification
11-13 cm (4-5 in)
Adult male
- Golden-yellow forehead and crown
- Black and yellow back with black edged wing feathers wings and tail
- Bright yellow underparts, rump and tail sides
- White lower belly
- Cinnamon face
Distribution
Africa: found in highlands from Eritrea to Malawi, and highlands of western Angola.
Taxonomy
Formerly considered conspecific with Cape Canary.
Subspecies
Three subspecies are recognised[1]:
- S. f. flavivertex; Eritrea to northern Tanzania.
- S. f. sassi; south-western Uganda, eastern Zaire, southern Tanzania, northern Malawi and north-eastern Zambia.
- S. f. huillensis; highlands of western Angola.
Habitat
Scrub and grasslands with trees, copses, plantations, gardens, parks, road verges, croplands, orchards, fybos, montane grasslands. Most common in highland areas.
Behaviour
Occurs singly, in pairs, or in flocks of up to 500.
Diet
Forages for seeds on ground, and in scrub, weeds, and trees.
Breeding
They build a compact cup nest, commonly in a shrub.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Fry H, Keith S,Woodcook M & Willis I. 2004. Birds of Africa Vol VII: Sparrows to Buntings. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0713665319
- Hockey, PAR, WRJ Dean, and PG Ryan, eds. 2005. Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa. 7th ed. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. ISBN 978-0620340533
- Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154
- AvianWeb
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved July 2015)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Yellow-crowned Canary. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 3 March 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Yellow-crowned_Canary
