Ankober serin (Serinus ankoberensis)

Ankober serin perched on rock
Ankober serin perched on rock

Ankober serin fact file

Ankober serin description

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderPasseriformes
FamilyFringillidae
GenusSerinus (1)

This small canary, discovered in 1976 (2), belongs to a large group of seed-eating birds of the genus Serinus (3). The greyish-brown upperparts are heavily streaked with dark brown, while the plumage on the underparts is whitish, also with bold dark brown streaking (4). The pale, slender, pointed bill is efficient at crushing seeds (4) (5); the husk is then peeled off by the tongue and the kernel swallowed (5). The contact call of the Ankober serin is a soft, nasal ‘tree tree’ sound, and when in flight it calls with a high-pitched ‘weet weet weet(3) (4).

Size
Length: 11 cm (2)
Top

Ankober serin biology

A social bird, the Ankober serin roosts, perches and feeds in small flocks, and is also often found in the company of the streaky seedeater (Serinus striolatus) and the brown-rumped seedeater (Serinus tristriatus). Breeding takes place primarily between October and March, although it may breed following heavy rain at any time of the year. A nest of the Ankober serin was found inside a hole underneath an overhanging earth bank. Into such nests, a clutch of three eggs is laid (4).

Top

Ankober serin range

Occurs in the highlands of central and northern Ethiopia (4).

Top

Ankober serin habitat

The Ankober serin inhabits tussock grass and heath on steep cliffs and slopes (3).

Top

Ankober serin status

Classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List 2007 (1).

IUCN Red List species status – Vulnerable

Top

Ankober serin threats

The steep, rugged terrain of the Ankober serin’s habitat offers it some protection, although areas close to human settlements, such as around the town of Ankober, are being impacted by an increase in grazing and cultivation, a result of growing human and livestock populations. In some areas, plantations of Eucalyptus also impact on the habitat of this threatened bird (4).

Top

Ankober serin conservation

The Ankober serin occurs in at least two protected areas: Simien Mountains National Park, and Guassa Reserve, where the local community controls grazing. Further conservation measures have been recommended, including surveys to gain further information on this species’ range, population size and possible threats (4).

View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Top

Find out more

For further information on the Ankober serin see:

Top

Authentication

This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact: arkive@wildscreen.org.ukTop

Glossary

Genus
A category used in taxonomy, which is below ‘family’ and above ‘species’. A genus tends to contain species that have characteristics in common. The genus forms the first part of a ‘binomial’ Latin species name; the second part is the specific name.
Top

References

  1. IUCN Red List (September, 2007)
    http://www.iucnredlist.org
  2. Van Perlo, B. (1995) Birds of Eastern Africa. HarperCollins, London.
  3. Sinclair, I. and Ryan, P. (2003) Birds of Africa: South of the Sahara. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.
  4. BirdLife International (March, 2008)
    http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=8793&m=0
  5. Burnie, D. (2001) Animal. Dorling Kindersley, London.

More »Related species

Salvadori’s seedeater (Serinus xantholaemus)Syrian serin (Serinus syriacus)Yellow-throated seedeater (Serinus flavigula)Island canary (Serinus canaria)Eurasian siskin (Carduelis spinus)Greater koa-finch (Rhodacanthis palmeri)Blue chaffinch (Fringilla teydea)Ula-ai-hawane (Ciridops anna)

This species is featured in:

This species is affected by global climate
change. To learn about climate change
and the species that are affected,
visit our climate change pages.

Please donate to ARKive today

Help us share the wonders of the natural world. Donate today!

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.

Get involved

ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!

X
Close

Image credit

Ankober serin perched on rock  
Ankober serin perched on rock

© Nik Borrow

Nik Borrow
n.borrow@btinternet.com
http://web.mac.com/nikborrow

X
Close

Link to this photo

ARKive species - Ankober serin (Serinus ankoberensis) Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.

Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.

Read more about

X
Close

MyARKive

MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.

X
Close

Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials

Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.

Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:

  • view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
  • download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
  • teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.

End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.

Additional use of flagged material

Green flagged material 

Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.

Creative commons material

Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.

Any other use

Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.

Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.