Mottled Flowerpecker

Short-billed hummingbird of the high Andes. Male has a narrow, multicolored throat patch that can appear dark until it catches the light just right and explodes into glittering iridescence; throat patch is reduced or lacking in female and immature. Both sexes have a rufous crown and broad white tips to the tail. Inhabits elfin forest and scrub near tree line from central Colombia south to extreme northern Peru. Often clings to flowers or branches while feeding.

A small green songbird with a bright yellow head and a distinctive orange forehead smudge. Gray belly separates yellow throat and yellow base to undertail. Adults dark-eyed, juveniles pale-eyed. Pairs and groups inhabit dry, open areas in the lowlands and lower hills, such as savanna, scrub, forest patches, and thickets, avoiding dense forests. Restricted to the Lesser Sundas. Separated from Lemon-bellied, Ashy-bellied, and Warbling White-eyes by lack of a white eye-ring and presence of an orange forehead patch. Song is a descending stuttering warble. Also gives jarring churrs and twittering notes.

Small and rotund with obvious teardrop-shaped plumes protruding from forehead. Looks gray and brown at a distance, with white streaks on the sides and a scaly belly. Males have black face and longer, more curled crest than females. Usually seen in flocks running on the ground in open, scrubby habitats. Listen for frequent, three-noted call, audible at long distances. Separated from similar Gambel’s Quail by range; also note California has scaly belly with rusty (not black) patch and duller brown crown and sides. Native to western North America including Baja California; well-established introduced populations in Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, and Hawaii.