Black-headed Canary
Serinus alario
A small, sparrow-like canary with different-looking males and females. The male is chestnut, white, and black, with the black continuous from the nape to the spurs on the breast in the Black-headed group, and with the black areas mixed with white in the Damara group. The female has a uniform gray-brown head and a chestnut back and tail. In the breeding season the species occurs in pairs and small groups, but during the non-breeding season it may gather in flocks of up to 200 and may mix with other species. It is resident but nomadic throughout arid scrub, following rain and seeding events.
Identification
The black-headed canary is 12–15 cm in length. The adult male has rich brown upper parts and tail, a white hind collar, and mainly white underparts. The head and central breast are solidly black.<p>The adult female is similar, but has a dull grey head, and is dark-streaked on the head and upper parts. It has a rich brown wing bar. The juvenile resembles the female, but is paler and has streaking on the breast and a weaker wing bar.<p>The Damara canary (Serinus leucolaema) is often considered to be a subspecies of the black-headed canary. The male of that form has a strikingly different head pattern, with a white supercilium, and a white throat and foreneck with a black moustachial stripe. The black of the central breast is therefore separate from the black of the head.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Serinus alario
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Genus
- Serinus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Damara canary is a common and gregarious seed-eater, forming flocks of up to 200 birds. Its call is a low tseett, and the male's song is a jumble of unmusical notes.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Tachyspiza rhodogaster
A small hawk with yellow eyes, a lime-green bill base, and yellow legs. Adults are slate-gray above with a vinous breast and dirty white belly and thighs. Immatures are rufous above with diagnostic bold blackish spots and bars and heavily streaked pale underparts. Does not soar. Found primarily in forest from coast to mountains, but also in mangroves and woodlands. Confined to Sulawesi and nearby islands, including the Banggai and Sula Islands. Adult mostly inseparable from Small Sparrowhawk except by call, but largest female Vinous-breasted are longer-bodied, larger-billed, longer-tailed, and longer-toed than largest Small Sparrowhawk. Pale eyes separate Vinous-breasted from Spot-tailed Goshawk and from adult Chinese and Japanese Sparrowhawks. Absence of white tail spots further distinguishes it from Spot-tailed Goshawk, and unbarred thighs separate it from adult Japanese Sparrowhawk. Heavily marked underwings further differentiate it from Chinese Sparrowhawk. Call is a “kew-kew-ke-ke-ke-ke, lower-pitched than Small Sparrowhawk.
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Stocky and large-headed with a shaggy crest. Bill is long, straight, thick, and pointed. Powder blue above with white underparts and blue breast band. Females have additional rusty band across belly. Almost always solitary, perched along edges of streams, lakes, and estuaries. Flies along rivers and shorelines giving loud rattling calls. Hunts for fish by plunging headfirst into the water, either directly from a perch or hovering.
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