Yellow-fronted Canary

The Yellow-fronted Canary is a small finch with a short tail and a prominent facial pattern with a large eyebrow. The male's forehead and big eyebrow are bright yellow. The lores and eye-stripe are dark brown becoming greyer towards the back of the ears. A fairly wide blackish moustachial stripe running down to the neck. The cheeks are bright yellow. The crown, nape, and sides of the neck are grey-olive to greyish-green finely streaked with blackish. The short, conical bill is dark brown to horn-brown on the upper mandible, the lower mandible is rosy or greyish-horn coloured. The iris is dark brown to black. The legs are brownish-pink to greyish-pink. The mantle, back and scapulars are grey-green finely streaked with dark-brown. The rump and upper tail-coverts are yellowish-brown tinged with green. The rectrices are brown to dark-brown finely edged yellow and their tips dull yellow. The primary coverts and flight feathers are blackish finely edged with pale green. The lower-throat to breast are bright yellow tinged with brownish on the sides of the breast. The belly and undertail coverts are bright yellow. From geographically adjacent species, it should be distinguished from three physically similar species. The Yellow-fronted Canary differs primarily from the White-bellied Canary by a shorter tail and a better defined facial pattern. Compared to the Sulphur-breasted Canary, it is smaller and the rump is brighter yellow. It is, however, slightly larger than the Saint Helena Canary with the nape greyer. The female is slightly greyer or duller, except the rump which remains bright yellow. The facial pattern is also duller or less well defined. The yellow edges of the wing coverts and flight feathers are less wide and the underparts duller.The juvenile looks similar to the female but its head is slightly darker gray. The face and chest are pale yellow washed out, the malar stripe is finer and slightly streaked or speckled on the chest side. These marks are more pronounced in the juvenile female than in the juvenile male. The upper parts and the rump are dull yellow-green. The tips of the median and upper wing coverts are however buckskin. Ten subspecies are currently recognized. These all differ mainly in the intensity of the green and yellow on the upper and lower parts but also from yellow-green with fine stripes in the north of the distribution area to gray-green with wide stripes in the south. Crithagra mozambica caniceps and punctiglula have a little less yellow on the forehead. The throat is paler yellow and the eye-strip darker. The cap is gray or pale gray to the nape. The mantle and scapulars are dull olive-green. The female of this subspecies has the chin and throat mottled blackish. Crithagra mozambica barbata does not have gray on the head but a dark olive-gray ocellus. The upper parts are yellower olive-green, the chest sides olive-green and the flanks tinted greenish. Crithagra mozambica gemeinsa is similar to the previous subspecies but with less yellow on the forehead and the upper parts are slightly darker. Crithagra mozambica samaliyae and tando are similar to C. m. barbata with the mantle and scapulars strongly streaked with dark. The parotic coverts are olive-green and the lower parts golden yellow. Crithagra mozambica grotei is very yellow on the forehead. The eye and malar stripes are olive-gray and the upper parts yellowish green with a brownish hue.Crithagra mozambica granti is quite similar to the nominate subspecies but the malar stripe is grayer and often joins the gray on the sides of the neck. The crown and upperparts are darker green and strongly streaked with black and the cheek coverts are dark olive-green. Crithagra mozambica vansoni is similar to the nominate subspecies but more dull and overall less streaked. Yellow-fronted Canary.