Yellow-fronted Canary

A small finch with a brown back, and yellow eyebrow line, rump and undersides. A black "whisker" separates a yellow patch below the eye from the yellow throat. Length: 11 cm. Audio (M. Oberle). Native to sub-Sahara Africa. A cage bird, introduced to Puerto Rico where it had been found in sea grape groves on the northeastern coast. The lack of sightings of this species in the last few years suggests that it may no longer persist in the wild in Puerto Rico. This pattern of temporary breeding populations may be repeated with other cagebird species: a bird becomes popular in the pet trade; individuals escape or are released; they breed for several years or decades; the speciesÆ population crashes due to disease, habitat change or trapping for the cage bird trade.

TAXONOMY: PASSERIFORMES; FRINGILLIDAE; Carduelinae.

References

Moreno, Jorge A. 1997. Review of the subspecific status and origin of introduced finches in Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci. 33(3-4): 233-238.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. and C. B. Kepler. 1992. Earliest records of the recently introduced avifauna of Puerto Rico. Ornitología Caribeña 3:20-29.

Schwabl, H., D. W. Mock, and J. A. Gieg. 1997. A hormonal mechanism for parental favouritism. Nature 386:231.

Yellow-fronted Canary, Spanish text

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