Black-faced Waxbill

A stunningly-colored bunting with a brilliant golden breast, a yellow throat, a boldly black-and-white striped head, a chestnut back, and white wingbars. When flushed, it shows white outer tail feathers. The female is duller. Pairs and small flocks are resident, but make local movements in arid savanna and broadleaf woodland, where they forage on the ground and fly up into trees when flushed or singing. The species has a mellow descending two-note “whit-wheeer” nasal call and a sweet, clearly whistled “tree-chee-tree-chee” song. The similar Brown-rumped and Somali buntings differ from Golden-breasted Bunting by having gray (not chestnut) shoulders and back of the neck.

Small, confusing leaf warbler with olive-yellow upperparts, yellow brow, double wing bars, and a pale crown stripe. Extremely similar to many other small leaf warblers: Pallas’s Leaf Warbler has a brighter yellow brow stripe, and Chinese Leaf Warbler has an incrementally weaker head pattern and a small hook at the rear end of the black eye stripe. Lemon-rumped Warbler is extremely similar visually but averages paler on the brow stripe and darker on the underparts. Listen for the song, an accelerating series of sharp chips followed by a trill; its calls include a tinkling series of chips. Inhabits mid-altitude forests, usually bushy poplar and birch groves; found at lower altitudes than Chinese Leaf Warbler.

A pretty and distinctive bird that always lacks the long tail streamers possessed by some paradise-flycatchers. Note the rufous back and tail and the gray underparts. Males and females differ slightly: males have a black cap and a blue eye-ring, whereas females have a dark-gray cap without a distinctive eye-ring. Fairly common on Reunion in all types of humid forest. Rare on Mauritius in remnant rainforest patches. Calls include a tearing “sree-sreeet” and an agitated twittering. The song is a long musical series of “twee” notes.