Rusty-throated Parrotbill

Small redstart. Male is unmistakable with an orange throat and underparts, a bold white head stripe from the forehead down to the neck sides, and a big white wing patch. Female is plain brown above and rich rusty below, with a thin white eyering. Breeds on wooded mountain slopes, plantations, gardens, and scrub. Descends to lower elevation habitats such as deserts and plains in the winter. Song is a jumble of pleasant, high-pitched whistles and buzzes. Call is a high-pitched clear whistle combined with a buzzing note, "Pi, pi, pi, zzzzzzzzz…"

A large weaver with a long, thin pointed bill. The male has a pale eye, and during the breeding season a brownish wash to the face. The female has a brown eye and an olive-brown belly. The species occupies open country, where it often breeds in mixed-species colonies over water or in large isolated trees. The chattering and rasping song is long and complex. The smaller Southern Brown-throated Weaver has a chunkier bill than Cape Weaver; its male has a better defined brown throat and its female has a white belly. African Golden-Weaver has reddish eyes, and Holub’s Golden-Weaver has an unstreaked yellowish back.

A small bird with a long blue tail that is held cocked. Breeding males are almost entirely blue with a strong black line from the bill through the eyes and around the back of the head, a black chest band, and a black rump. Nonbreeding males are fairly plain grayish-brown birds with black bills, bright blue tails, and some blue in the folded wing. Females are tan above with a duller blue tail and a reddish bill. Note that the patch between the eye and bill (lores) on females is a fraction paler than the bill (in Purple-backed Fairywren the lores are much darker than the bill). This species is fairly common in arid inland Australia, as well as in southwest Western Australia.