Crithagra gularis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The streaky-headed seedeater or streaky-headed canary (Crithagra gularis) is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is an unobtrusive but widespread species in suitable habitats of southern Africa. Its presence in an area is revealed foremost by its callnotes.
The streaky-headed seedeater was formerly placed in the genus Serinus but phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences found that the genus was polyphyletic. The genus was therefore split and a number of species including the streaky-headed seedeater were moved to the resurrected genus Crithagra.
There are five recognized subspecies, differing mainly in the colour shade of the upperparts and underparts. C. g. humilis of the southwestern Cape has dusky plumage and indistinctly streaked upperparts. Crithagra gularis benguellensis (Reichenow, 1904) — n Namibia, s Angola
Crithagra gularis endemion (Clancey, 1952) — Lesotho, Eswatini, e South Africa, s Mozambique Crithagra gularis gularis (Smith, A, 1836) — n South Africa, sw Botswana, s Zimbabwe Crithagra gularis humilis (Bonaparte, 1850) — s South Africa
Crithagra gularis mendosa (Clancey, 1966) — nw Botswana, Zimbabwe, c Mozambique... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Golden Gate Highlands National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 3 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Streaky-headed Seedeater sighting in De Hoop Nature Reserve on a given day, based on 37 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 122nd most-seen of the 189 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Streaky-headed Seedeater in De Hoop Nature Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in March–April and October–November, the lowest months. June has too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Streaky-headed Seedeater sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Streaky-headed Seedeater sightings, De Hoop Nature Reserve ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Addo Elephant National Park (South Africa, about 30%), Garden Route National Park (South Africa, about 20%) and Golden Gate Highlands National Park (South Africa, about 20%).
Same genus: Crithagra
The closest relatives of the Streaky-headed Seedeater that you can see in De Hoop Nature Reserve (genus Crithagra, African Seedeaters, Serins, Canaries, and Citrils) are Yellow Canary (about 40%), White-throated Canary (about 30%) and Brimstone Canary (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Streaky-headed Seedeater is recorded against all the birds logged in De Hoop Nature Reserve (37 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
