Pied Harrier
Circus melanoleucos
A spectacular harrier patterned in black and silvery white. The male is distinctive with black head, striking yellow cere and eyes, and black shoulders, breast, and wingtips, contrasting with its silvery-white underparts and forewing. The female is gray-and-brown above and lighter below, with a small white rump. Females superficially resemble female Pallid and Montagu’s Harriers, but have a paler underwing with narrow dark barring and sparse streaking on underwing coverts. The species hunts by quartering suitable habitat on buoyant wings. It eats mostly small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and insects.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Circus melanoleucos
- Authority
- (Pennant, 1769)
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Circus
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- PAL : se Siberia, Korean Pen. and ne China
- Non-breeding range
- OR : India to Philippines and Borneo
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Turner's Eremomela
Eremomela turneri
A very small, well-marked warbler. Note the gray upperparts, the rufous forehead, and the white underparts with a black chest band. Found very locally in low- and middle-elevation rainforest, often along the forest edge. Very similar to Rufous-crowned Eremomela, but usually distinguished by range, and also slightly smaller, with less rufous on the crown. Usually in small groups, which frequently join mixed flocks. Inconspicuous vocalizations are high-pitched “sit” notes, sometimes given singly, and sometimes in a quick series.
Wallace's Fairywren
Sipodotus wallacii
A tiny bird of foothill forest mid-storey and canopy. White underparts, rufous back with two dotted white wing bars, a black cap with white cheek stripe and pale blue flecked crown. Males have a white throat whereas females have a buff throat. Moves in mixed flocks and doesn’t cock its tail like other fairywrens. Similar to female Emperor Fairywren but Wallace’s is white to the chin and has wing bars. Song, a series of high-pitched notes beginning with a longer one “siiiii! sisisisisisisisi!”.
Black-backed Swamphen
Porphyrio indicus
A large, brightly colored inhabitant of marshes, meadows, and mangroves. Combination of blue body and bright red bill and legs is unmistakable. Can be quite shy, but size and color make it unmistakable when it emerges from vegetation. Like many other rails, gives a range of call notes, including rattles, squeaks, and grunts. Very similar to the closely-related Gray-headed Swamphen, with which its range overlap is minimal; exact identifying factors are unclear but has a generally darker body.
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