Canary Islands Chaffinch
Fringilla canariensis
Dapper little finch endemic to the Canarias, where it inhabits a range of habitats, from forests to farmlands. Handsome, brightly colored male has a blue-grayish cowl, pale orangish face and breast, and a black-and-white wing pattern (colors muted in winter). Female much drabber but shares male pattern; especially note the complex wing pattern. Both sexes have white outer tail feathers, often striking in flight such as when flushed. Song is a somewhat buzzy series of up-and-down notes; calls include a somewhat sparrow-like “dwee!”
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Fringilla canariensis
- Authority
- Vieillot, 1817
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Genus
- Fringilla
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Bluish-slate Antshrike
Thamnomanes schistogynus
Medium-sized, fairly long-tailed antshrike of lowland rainforest. Perches upright in the under and midstory of mature rainforest, bamboo, and occasionally forest edges. The male is slaty gray overall while the more distinctive female has a red-orange belly. Often joins mixed-species flocks, where it typically forages slightly higher in vegetation than the similar Dusky-throated Antshrike. Males are best separated from other plain gray antshrikes by more upright posture, slightly longer tail, cleaner gray throat, and voice. Listen for a short series of rising whistles that accelerate into a trill.
Bamenda Apalis
Apalis bamendae
A slender, plain sooty-gray apalis with red eyes and a buffy-brown forehead and throat. Juvenile is paler than the adult, with a dingy cream belly. Resident, inhabiting canopy and middle levels of both primary and patchy degraded forest between 700 and 2000 meters in mountains and hilly areas in the Bamenda Highlands and Adamawa Plateau of Cameroon, where no similar apalises occur. Vocalizations include a monotonous “dleep-dleep-dleep” and a whip-like 3-noted “tee-twi-dip, tee-twi-dip, tee-twi-dip.”
White-throated Kingfisher
Halcyon smyrnensis
Large-headed, predominantly brown kingfisher with electric-blue back and wings, heavy red bill, and snow-white patch from the throat through the breast. Common both near and away from water; frequently seen perched on fence posts and telephone lines near wetlands, lakes, agricultural fields, and clearings. Gives jarring, raptor-like descending trills and cackles, often in flight.
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