Thursday, October 7, 2010

Yellow Crowned Canary-Serinus Canicollis

Location: East Africa to eastern South Africa.
Description:
  • Size: 5.25 inches

  • Adult male breeding: crown to mantle grey, yellowish-green rump, face and breast, yellow edges to base of tail.

  • Adult female: duller than male, with grey on chin and breast, distinctly streaked on upperparts, more lightly on flanks.

  • Juvenile: pale buffish-brown with dark streaks; yellowish wash to underparts, broad pale buff-brown wingbars, and yellowish edges to flight feathers.

  • Call is 'sweet' and a staccato chatter, alarm call a repeated 'tweee', 'pee-eee' or 'twoo-ee' or 'skleree'; gives a twiterring note in flight.

  • Song is a loud, prolonged and musical series of Goldfinch-like trills, and warbles, said to resemble Skylark in tone.

European Serin-Serinus Serinus

Location: Europe and the Mediterranean to North Africa, Estonia and Southwest Russia (Ukraine).
Descriptions:
  • Size 4.25 inches
  • Adult male: small, stubby bill, yellow head and dark-streaked breast, pale yellow wingbars, and bright yellow rump.
  • Adult female: duler than male, with pale yellow around the face and dull yellow wingbars; underparts heavily streaked.
  • Juvenile: similar to adult female but lacks yellow; rump light olive with dark streaks, wingbars warm buffish-brown.
  • Call is a rapid or high-pitched twittering trill 'tirrillilit', or a shorter 'titteree', often of a tinny or metallic quality.
  • Song is a jumbled or jangling mixture of notes recalling Corn Bunting in overall quality, though somewhat less harsh.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Red Fronted Serin - Serinus pusillus

Location: Turkey east through Central Asia, the Himalayan, Tibet and northwest China.
Descriptions:
  • Size: 5 inches.
  • Adult breeding plumage: bright red patch on forehead, sooty black head and breast; breast streaked black, rest of underpart yellowish. Sexes are alike.
  • Juvenile: very streaky, with rust-brown or dull chestnut on face and forehead; pale yellowish-buff wingbars.
  • Call: is a rather rapid ringing trill 'trilit-drillt'.
  • Song: is very similar to the European Serin, but softer and more Goldfinch-like in quality, melodious rippling trills, interspersed with twittering notes, rather hurried, and many phrases repeated.