Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush

Monticola rufiventris

An upright bird of montane forests. Male is dark blue above and orange below, with a dark face. Female looks completely different: gray-brown with boldly scaled underparts and a whitish crescent behind the ear. Female White-throated Rock Thrush is similar, but browner, with a spotted back and no pale ear crescent. Usually seen in pairs, perched quietly on a rock or exposed branch at canopy level. Song is a series of buzzy whistles; most common call is a distincive low, harsh scratching noise.

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Monticola rufiventris
Authority
(Jardine & Selby, 1833)
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Muscicapidae
Genus
Monticola

Range and habitat

Migration
Complete migrants

Conservation

Population trend
stable

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

Black Rail

Black Rail

Laterallus jamaicensis

Tiny rail, the size of a sparrow and nearly impossible to see without tremendous effort. Slate gray overall with a piercing red eye, brown nape, and white spotting on wings. Beware confusion with downy young of other rail species, which are entirely black. Inhabits drier areas in fresh and saltwater marshes with cattail, sedge, and other tall grasses. Typically rare even in proper habitat. Incredibly difficult to locate even when vocalizing within mere feet of an observer; stealthily dashes around at the base of dense grass like a ninja. Easiest to detect by its distinctive song, most often heard at night: a churring "kick-ee-derr", two higher notes followed by a lower note.

Snares Penguin

Snares Penguin

Eudyptes robustus

Medium-sized crested penguin, endemic to New Zealand. Note the thin, vivid yellow eyebrow that droops behind the eye to form a bushy tufted crest. Also look for prominent pale pink skin at the base of its chunky red bill. Breeds in colonies only on the Snare Islands. Adults disperse widely in winter. Vagrants recorded molting around South, Stewart, Chatham, and Subantarctic Islands. Forages in small groups at sea. Distinguished from Fiordland Penguin by conspicuous pale pink skin at the base of the larger bill and the lack of white cheek stripes. Told apart from Erect-crested Penguin by crest beginning toward the top of the bill and splaying out more dramatically. Rockhopper Penguin is smaller.

Plumbeous Black-Tyrant

Plumbeous Black-Tyrant

Knipolegus cabanisi

Medium-sized flycatcher of Andean slopes; rare in southern Peru, more common in Bolivia and northern Argentina. Male is separated from White-winged Black-Tyrant by grayer, less glossy plumage and from Cinereous Tyrant by darker belly. Female is told from those species by her dark (not pale) throat. Inhabits humid forest, often near rivers and streams. Perches on a bare branch or snag and sallies out after insects.

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