Mountain Honeyeater

Adorable small woodpecker with a large crested head, boldly marked black-and-white wings, and big dark eyes. Also note finely barred belly. Male has a faint red “moustache” stripe. Inhabits lowland and foothill forests and forest edge, where it often forages in pairs, poking along on the ends of thinner branches and between bark crevices. Sometimes visits ant nests in the forest canopy. Joins mixed flocks. Gives high chittering calls, as well as a rising “pwit!”

A graceful aerial feeder found over a wide variety of open habitats, especially near water, including marshes and towns. Often seen on exposed perches including power and telephone lines in villages. Commonly found in flocks of up to twenty birds, sometimes mixing with other swallows and martins. Note the male’s diagnostic glossy purple-blue plumage and snow-white belly. Females and immatures are similarly patterned, but have brown mixed with the blue and are probably not safely separable from Cuban Martin. Female and immature Purple Martins are very similar, but they often have a scaly breast and finely streaked belly, with less contrast between belly and chest. Notably, Cuban and Purple Martins are not present in this species’ range from March to September. Calls include a harsh “churr,” a buzzy “zwick-zwick,” and a musical buzzy burbling.

A rare and endangered goose on the South American mainland, but fairly common in the Falkland Islands. This subtly attractive austral goose is easily passed off as a female of the slightly larger Upland Goose. Relative to female Upland, Ruddy-headed (in which sexes look alike) has a shorter ruddy neck (which can be fairly dull and pale, especially in the Falklands) with narrow white eye crescents and a pale forehead; body is cleaner and paler gray with dark rusty belly and vent; legs are deeper orange. In flight, bold wing pattern is like female Upland. Found in pairs or small groups, readily associating with Upland Geese.