Bismarck Fantail

The breeding male is black with a pale blue bill, brightly-colored shoulder epaulets (chestnut in northeast Africa, yellow elsewhere), and diagnostic white wing panels that are most obvious in flight. The distinctive display is a slow butterfly-like flapping. The non-breeding male is buffy and streaky, but retains the shoulder epaulets and wing panel. The female lacks the wing pattern and has a pale unstreaked belly. Pairs and flocks are resident with local movements in open savanna, brushy grassland, swamps, and cultivated areas.

Medium-sized eagle with short, rounded wings. Adult is dark brown above and white with heavy streaking and barring below. Perched birds show a prominent vertical crest. When in flight, note prominent “fingers”, black-striped white throat, and bold black banding on the flight feathers and tail. Juvenile has a pale tan head and underparts, a shorter crest, and paler black banding on the wings and tail. Pale morph Changeable Hawk-Eagle can be similar, but note present species’ more densely patterned underparts and wings, taller crest, and tan (not white) head in juveniles. Endemic to Java, where it is now largely limited to foothill and montane forests. Soars often, but also frequently perches silently in the canopy. Quiet, but occasionally gives thin yelping screams.

The southwestern counterpart of the Red-billed Blue-Magpie, this colorful long-tailed corvid also forages in noisy flocks. Similar in coloration to Red-billed, but Yellow-billed is paler blue overall, with a small white patch at the back of the crown instead of an extensive white stripe, and a bright yellow bill instead of a scarlet one. Primarily found in Himalayan hill forest, with disjunct populations in northwestern Myanmar and northern Vietnam.