streaky seedeater Crithagra striolata

Medium-sized brown, heavily streaked seedeater. Note the boldly marked face with one dark brown mark across the ears and another below the bill. The distinctive subspecies found in southern Tanzania and Malawi has a yellow wash across the face. Generally common at middle and high elevations in a variety of open habitats including gardens, cultivation, scrub, heath, and forest edge. Gives a pretty, musical up-and-down song that is more like a thrush’s than a typical seedeater’s. Also gives a distinctive, high-pitched “seeeiiu” call. Similar to Reichard’s Seedeater, but has a different facial pattern, with a pale mark below the eye.