King-of-Saxony Bird-of-Paradise

Pteridophora alberti

A medium-sized bird of montane forest canopy. Male has a yellow belly, black upperparts and bib, and orange flight feathers. Note the 2 outlandishly long, antennalike feathers protruding from the side of the head. Female has gray-brown upperparts and whitish underparts with dark scaling. Male is unmistakable. Female is somewhat similar to female lophorinas and parotias, but is distinctly smaller and grayer with buffy under the base of the tail. Voice, a weird, insectlike, continuous rattle sounding rather like radio static. Sometimes given while waving its long head feathers about in its courtship display and bouncing up and down.

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Pteridophora alberti
Authority
Meyer, AB, 1894
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Paradisaeidae
Genus
Pteridophora

Range and habitat

Migration
Resident species

Conservation

Population trend
declining

Photos

Distribution

Other Birds

Blackcap Babbler

Blackcap Babbler

Turdoides reinwardtii

A mostly brownish babbler with a black head and a white eye. The underparts are pale in the west and become increasingly darker in the eastern part of the range. Found in moist woodland, dense savanna, scrub, gallery forest, forest edge, cultivated areas, and gardens. Almost always in groups, which feed by hopping across the ground. Similar in behavior, shape, size, and overall brown coloration to Brown Babbler, but easily separated by the black head and the lack of a contrastingly paler rump. Calls include a raspy babbling, nasal calls, and a dry clucking, all usually given by a whole group in chorus. 

Bananaquit

Bananaquit

Coereba flaveola

Tiny, active, warbler-like bird of tropical and subtropical forest edge, woodland, and gardens. Feeds on nectar and fruit, and in some areas visits bird feeders. Variable plumage across range, especially in the Caribbean, but always note small size and sharp, slightly decurved bill. Most populations have a bold white eyebrow and yellow underparts. Throat color varies from pale gray on mainland (Mexico to South America) to white on some island populations (including Cozumel) or sooty gray (Greater Antilles). Some birds in the Lesser Antilles are entirely black. Song is variable across range but usually high-pitched and scratchy.

White-crested Spadebill

White-crested Spadebill

Platyrinchus platyrhynchos

Small, charismatic flycatcher of forest understory. Key field mark is gray head contrasting with white throat and tawny underparts. Found in tall rainforest where it is relatively uncommon and difficult to see well; usually alone or in pairs. Forages from low perches, darting up to scoop insects from undersides of leaves. Slightly larger, chunkier, and plainer-faced than other spadebills. Often first detected by its sharp call note; distinctive song is a rising then falling trill.

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