The black-headed canary (''Serinus alario'') is a species of

finch The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...

found in

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

and South Africa. It is sometimes placed in the genus ''Alario'' as ''Alario alario'' Its

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is dry open scrub and grassland, the edges of cultivation and suburban gardens.

Description

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. 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. Canary Black-headed 2011 10 01

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 The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

, 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.

Phylogeny

This species is phylogenetically included within the group of ''

Serinus syriacus The Syrian serin (''Serinus syriacus'') is a brightly coloured small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. Description The Syrian serin is prettily coloured with bright yellow and pale grey feathers. The eyes are large and are surro ...

'' now thriving around Mt. Lebanon and other Asian and African patches in winter, together with ''

Serinus canicollis The Cape canary (''Serinus canicollis'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is a resident breeder in southern Africa and has been introduced to Mauritius and Réunion. Its habitat is fynbos, grassland and gardens, preferably in ...

'' (African distribution) and ''

Serinus pusillus The red-fronted serin or fire-fronted serin (''Serinus pusillus'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It prefers high mountain regions and is 11–12 cm long. This bird breeds in the Caucasus and the higher mounta ...

'' (Asian distribution
Arnaiz-Villena et al., 1999

Behaviour

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.

References

* Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton, ''SASOL Birds of Southern Africa'' (Struik 2002) * Clement, Harris and Davis, ''Finches and Sparrows''

External links

* Black-headed canary
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1302446 black-headed canary Birds of Southern Africa black-headed canary black-headed canary Taxonomy articles created by Polbot