Purple-throated Fruitcrow

Odd and distinctive black, brown, and white babbler. Note the patches of bare black skin on the cheek and the rufous nape. Found very locally in arid savanna, especially in the thicker bands of mopane woodland along watercourses. Always in groups of several individuals. Raucous babbling call is frequently given, usually by a whole group in chorus. Shares black-and-white coloration with Southern Pied Babbler, but easily separated by the brown back, rufous nape, and bare cheek.

Dainty but delightful understory forest robin with gray-green upperparts and apricot underparts, with a diagnostic black margined white throat crescent (sometimes hidden) and dark tail. Immature spotted above and duller below. Singles and pairs are scarce residents skulking close to the open understory of mature montane forest, often near streams, mostly between 850–1800m. Song a clear sweet 3-note whistle “tseee-tuu-tuu” and other similar sounds. The alarm call is a dry chattering “trrrrrt”. The larger White-starred Robin is yellower than Swynnerton’s, including in the tail, has small white spectacles (sometimes inconspicuous) in front of the eye, and lacks a white throat crescent.

A small gray-brown seedeater with a lemon-yellow rump, white tail tips, and a boldly marked face with pale patches (white to lemon-yellow) above and below the eye. The throat and upper breast are lemon-yellow in the male and buff in the female. Pairs and small flocks occupy savanna, grassland, and palm savanna, where the species is partial to Ilala Palm. It forages on the ground and in small shrubs and grass. The similar Yellow-fronted Canary is yellower, has a broader eyebrow, and lacks wingbars and the vertical dark stripe below the eye.