Bird
Bird
Saffron Finch
Sicalis flaveola
The Saffron Finch is a bright, sunny yellow bird of open country and gardens across Trinidad and Tobago, a popular cage bird in parts of its range owing to its cheerful colouring and song, and a familiar sight on lawns, roadsides, and cultivated land.
The Saffron Finch is a bright, sunny yellow bird of open country and gardens across Trinidad and Tobago, a popular cage bird in parts of its range owing to its cheerful colouring and song, and a familiar sight on lawns, roadsides, and cultivated land.
Identification
A small, stocky finch around 14 cm long, bright golden-yellow overall with an orange tinge on the crown, more pronounced in adult males, and an olive tinge on the back and wings. Females and immatures are duller, with more olive-green tones and less extensive yellow. The bill is short, thick, and conical, adapted for seed-eating.
Ecology
The Saffron Finch feeds primarily on grass and other small seeds, foraging on the ground in lawns, pastures, roadsides, and cultivated land, often in small flocks, and readily visits bird feeders and gardens. It builds a nest in a natural cavity or old woodpecker hole, or sometimes in an artificial cavity such as a building crevice, and is a familiar and conspicuous bird of open, human-modified landscapes.
Status in T&T
Common in open country, gardens, and agricultural land across both Trinidad and Tobago, thriving alongside human settlement. It is not threatened. It is protected under the Conservation of Wildlife Act; as with other attractive songbirds, it is sometimes illegally captured for the cage bird trade despite legal protection.
Threats
- Illegal capture for the cage bird trade
