Silver Oriole
Oriolus mellianus
Male’s bone-white back and belly are unlike that of any other oriole. Female has the same black head and wings but has a gray-brown back and a densely streaked belly. Both sexes have reddish tails. Shape and color scheme are similar to Maroon Oriole (minimal range overlap), which is much darker and browner overall. Forages in the canopy and sometimes perches out on exposed snags and treetops. Uncommon and localized in lowland and foothill moist forests. Song is a musical, flute-like series of whistles. Gives cat-like mewing calls.
Taxonomy
The silver oriole was originally described as a subspecies of the maroon oriole. Along with the black, black-and-crimson and maroon orioles, it belongs to a clade of red and black orioles. Alternate names for the silver oriole include Mell's maroon oriole, Mell's oriole, Stresemann's maroon oriole and Stresemann's oriole.
- Scientific name
- Oriolus mellianus
- Authority
- Stresemann, 1922
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Oriolidae
- Genus
- Oriolus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
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Tolmomyias poliocephalus
Small, stocky flycatcher with broad, flat bill. Occupies canopy and midstory of forest edges, gardens, and tall second growth in humid lowlands. Has gray crown, pale yellow underparts, and yellow edgings to wing feathers (but not wingbars). Very similar to a few other species of flycatchers, particularly Yellow-margined and Yellow-olive Flycatchers; best distinguishing features include its pale eye, lack of a yellow patch at the base of the primaries, and voice. Call is a loud, quickly rising whistle: “tuee?”, higher and cleaner than similar calls from species like Brownish Twistwing and Blue-backed Manakin, but not as high as the “twee-twee” of Purple-throated Euphonia.
Surucua Trogon
Trogon surrucura
Often draws attention to its presence by its song: an ascending sequence of “kwa” notes, similar to Green-backed Trogon, but faster. Two subspecies occur in Brazil, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina with limited geographical overlap that vary in the color of the breast and eyering; the southern one has a red belly and eyering, while the northern one has a yellow belly and eyering. The males of both subspecies have a violet-blue head and breast, a green back, and a white undertail. Females have a dull gray breast and the undertail is gray with white tips. Found in the middle to upper levels of forests and woodlands.
Brazilian Teal
Amazonetta brasiliensis
Small, fairly common duck. Brownish at rest with a dark face, but striking in flight with a white inner wing panel contrasting with an iridescent dark green outer wing. Males have an orange bill, blue-gray in females. Encountered on lakes, ponds, rivers, marshy areas, and occasionally in more saline waters.
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