Saffron finches are native to South America and were introduced to the islands around 1965.
This golden-yellow songbird gathers in small flocks on lawns and other grassy and shrubby areas.
They are most populous on Hawai`i Island and O`ahu, but scattered individuals have been observed on other islands as well.
These birds were introduced at a time when many of our native birds had disappeared from the lowlands due to mosquito-transmitted disease like avian malaria.
If we succeed at landscape-scale control of these non-native mosquitoes, it is possible that many of our native birds, like the bright red `apapane and yellow`amakihi, can recolonize our parks and backyards.
It remains to be seen how they might interact with newly established species like the saffron finch.
Audio credit: Peter Boesman/Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (ML301656)
