Yellow-fronted canary

The yellow-fronted canary  (Crithagra mozambica) is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is sometimes known in aviculture as the green singing finch.

The yellow-fronted canary was formerly placed in the genus Serinus, but phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences found that genus to be polyphyletic. The genus was therefore split and a number of species including the yellow-fronted canary were moved to the resurrected genus Crithagra Swainson 1827.

This bird is a resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Its habitat is open woodland and cultivation. It nests in trees, laying three or four eggs in a compact cup nest. It has been introduced to the Hawaiian Islands, where it is found on western Hawaii, southeastern Oahu and Molokai.

The yellow-fronted canary is a common, gregarious seedeater. It is 11–13 cm in length. The adult male has a green back and brown wings and tail. The underparts and rump are yellow, and the head is yellow with a grey crown and nape and a black malar stripe. The female is similar, but with a weaker head pattern and duller underparts. Juveniles are greyer than the female, especially on the head.

Its song is a warbled zee-zeree-chereeo.

Subspecies

 * Crithagra mozambica mozambica: coastal Kenya and Mafia Island (Tanzania) south to Zimbabwe, Mozambique, eastern and southeastern Botswana, and northeastern South Africa (North West and Limpopo to Free State)
 * Crithagra mozambica punctigula: Cameroon (north to Toukte, Grand Capitaine and Koum)
 * Crithagra mozambica caniceps: Senegal to Cameroon (south to Benue plain)
 * Crithagra mozambica tando: Gabon to north Angola and south west Democratic Republic of the Congo; introduced São Tomé island, São Tomé and Príncipe
 * Crithagra mozambica vansoni: Extreme south east Angola and adjacent Namibia to north Botswana, south west Zambia
 * Crithagra mozambica barbata: southern Chad, Central African Republic, western Sudan, western and southern South Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, southwestern Kenya, and central Tanzania
 * Crithagra mozambica samaliyae: SE Democratic Republic of the Congo to sw Tanzania and adjacent Zambia
 * Crithagra mozambica grotei: southeastern Sudan (east of the Nile), eastern South Sudan, and western and southwestern Ethiopia
 * Crithagra mozambica gommaensis: Eritrea and northwestern and central Ethiopia
 * Crithagra mozambica granti: eastern South Africa (Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal south to Eastern Cape), eastern Eswatini, and southern Mozambique