Canary (1 Viewer)

[leon]

This bird can only be one of the following three Canaries. I am nearly there.

This is either a
female Yellow Canary (Serinus flaviventris)
femlale Black-troated Canary (S. atrogulatis)
White-troated Canary (S. albogularis)

I would exclude the White-troated as the beak is not heavy enough.

I know the Black-troated should have a white tip on the tail. I am not sure how distinct this is on the female. The other difference I can see is that the the Yellow Canary has a black beak as apposed to a dull "greyhish" beak on the Black-troated. My bird has most probably had its beak in the mud, as the upper part seems dark brown, and the bottem part seems paler.

This is what is confusing me, I dont see a white tip, but the beak appears to be pale? The chest seems to have stripes which point to the Yellow. Am I missing something?

PS I did see male Yellow Canaries, but no male Black-troated's in the same area, although the male Black-troateds are much harder to notice.

The picture was shot outside Potchefstroom on the 1st August.

 

[Charles Harper]

Yipes, that bill is a little distracting, but I agree the heavy streaking seems to eliminate the other two. Is there much yellow in the primaries? I'm not sure I see any on my monitor.

 

[leon]

Hi Charles,

I have 3 shots, all with the distrackting beak, I also don't see yellow primaries on any of the pics. They should be there but I don't see them.

 

[cuckooroller]

Leon,
For me it is a male S. atrogularis (should be race impiger on range). By the way, this bird is also called Yellow-rumped Seedeater. All of my shots of this bird show blackish primaries - not yellow - and the male with the evident yellow rump as in your pic.

 

[Rasmus Boegh]

Leon,
For me it is a male S. atrogularis

Confirmed. Sadly, most guides only show this species with a striking dark throat. This is dependent on timing. When not breeding, the throat patch in ad. males is much less obvious (but still present). In females in can disappear altogether. Females Yellow never show a dark throat; only a moustache. Also, their tail is much darker overall; without the pale tip. The same can be said about White-throated - it has no dark markings on the throat, and a dark tail. Finally, the breast of (ad.) White-throated is without heavy streaking. So, main feature is throat, secondly tail (though that can be subject to a bit of variation, so not completely safe as a feature).

 

[leon]

Great feedback, thank you once again Rasmus.