Papyrus canary

The papyrus canary (Crithagra koliensis), also known as Van Someren's canary, is a species of passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.

Papyrus canary
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Fringillidae
Subfamily:	Carduelinae
Genus:	Crithagra
Species:	C. koliensis
Binomial name
Crithagra koliensis (Grant & Mackworth-Praed, 1952)
Synonyms
Serinus koliensis

It is found in Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.^[1] It is found primarily in papyrus stands at altitudes of between 900 and 1,600 m (2,950 and 5,250 ft), but is also found in cultivation near highland papyrus. It always builds its nests in papyrus stands, using papyrus leaves as the main material.^[2]

The papyrus canary was formerly placed in the genus Serinus but phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences found that the genus was polyphyletic.^[3] The genus was therefore split and a number of species including the papyrus canary were moved to the resurrected genus Crithagra.^[4][5]