Streaky-headed seedeater

The streaky-headed seedeater or streaky-headed canary (Crithagra gularis) is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is an unobtrusive but widespread species in suitable habitats of southern Africa. Its presence in an area is revealed foremost by its callnotes.

Streaky-headed seedeater
C. g. humilis in the W. Cape, and C. g. gularis call from Gauteng, South Africa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Subfamily: Carduelinae
Genus: Crithagra
Species:
C. gularis
Binomial name
Crithagra gularis
(Smith, 1836)
Synonyms

Serinus gularis

C. g. humilis feeding on the fruit of a Cape fig, Western Cape

Taxonomy
C. g. endemion feeding on redgum seeds in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

The streaky-headed seedeater was formerly placed in the genus Serinus but phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences found that the genus was polyphyletic.[2] The genus was therefore split and a number of species including the streaky-headed seedeater were moved to the resurrected genus Crithagra.[3][4]

There are five recognized subspecies,[3] differing mainly in the colour shade of the upperparts and underparts. C. g. humilis of the southwestern Cape has dusky plumage and indistinctly streaked upperparts.[5]

  • C. g. benguellensis (Reichenow, 1904) — n Namibia, s Angola
  • C. g. endemion (Clancey, 1952) — Lesotho, Eswatini, e South Africa, s Mozambique
  • C. g. gularis (Smith, A, 1836) — n South Africa, sw Botswana, s Zimbabwe
  • C. g. humilis (Bonaparte, 1850) — s South Africa
  • C. g. mendosa (Clancey, 1966) — nw Botswana, Zimbabwe, c Mozambique, s Zambia

Some authorities consider the West African seedeater (Crithagra canicapilla) as a subspecies of the streaky-headed seedeater.[6][7] C. (g.) elgonensis, an isolated taxon occurring sparsely in the dry, eastern Ugandan woodlands and at Mt Elgon in Kenya, may be conspecific with either the West African seedeater[8] or stripe-breasted seedeater.[9]

Description

The streaky-headed seedeater is 13–14 cm in length. The adult has brown upperparts with some faint streaking and a plain brown rump. The head has a finely white-streaked crown, dark face, and white supercilium and chin. The underparts are warm buff. The sexes are similar, but some females show a little breast streaking. The juvenile has less head streaking, a dull supercilium, more heavily streaked upperparts, and heavy streaking on the pale grey underparts.

Distribution and habitat

Its habitat is open woodland and scrub, including savanna, orchards, and gardens. It builds a compact cup nest in a scrub.

Behaviour

The streaky-headed seedeater is usually seen in pairs, but can be gregarious, forming large flocks, alone or with other canary species. It feeds on soft fruit, weed seeds and buds, and sometimes takes insects. Large flocks can damage sunflower, millet and other cereal crops.

This is an unobtrusive finch, often perching inside bushes. Its call is a soft tseee, and the song is a wit-chee-chee-chee-cha cha cha cha chip, interspersed with mimicry of other species. There is also a tweu tweu tirrirrit-tink given in display flight.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Crithagra gularis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T103762276A94661771. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T103762276A94661771.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. Zuccon, Dario; Prŷs-Jones, Robert; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Ericson, Per G.P. (2012). "The phylogenetic relationships and generic limits of finches (Fringillidae)" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 62 (2): 581–596. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.10.002. PMID 22023825.
  3. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Finches, euphonias". World Bird List Version 5.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  4. Swainson, William (1827). "On several forms in ornithology not hitherto defined". Zoological Journal. 3: 348.
  5. Chittenden, H.; et al. (2012). Roberts geographic variation of southern African birds. Cape Town: JVBBF. pp. 242–243. ISBN 978-1-920602-00-0.
  6. Clements, J.F.; Schulenberg, T.S.; Iliff, M.J.; Roberson, D.; Fredericks, T.A.; Sullivan, B.L.; Wood, C.L. (2014). "The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9". Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  7. Clement, P. "Streaky-headed Seedeater (Serinus gularis)". In del Hoyo, J; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 13 July 2015.(subscription required)
  8. Terry Stevenson; John Fanshawe (2004). Birds of East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi. Helm Field Guides. p. 278. ISBN 0713673478.
  9. Zimmerman, Dale A.; et al. (1999). Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania. Princeton University Press. p. 696. ISBN 0691010226.
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