Saffron Finch: how to recognise it
A bird of North America, South America and Oceania. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © Alejandro Bayer Tamayo · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Sicalis flaveola
- Family
- Tanagers and Allies
- Size
- About 14 cm
- Habitat
- Farmland, gardens, towns and open scrub
- Found in
- North America, South America and Oceania
The key marks
Small, bright yellow finch with an orange crown, an olive-yellow back and a short, stout bill; females are duller. Flame-rumped Tanager male is mostly black, with only the rump yellow-orange.
Voice
A simple, repeated song of short, sweet, chirping notes.
Good to know
It readily nests in roof tiles and holes in walls, and it has been introduced to Hawaii.
Do not confuse with
Compare it with the Flame-rumped Tanager. Look at the marks above one by one rather than the overall colour, and practise telling the two apart with real photos.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in farmland, gardens, towns and open scrub. It is especially common in Colombia, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.