Eyebrowed Heleia

Strapping long-winged rosefinch of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Male is dazzling, with a raspberry-pink body and a head the color of fine wine. Female is streaky gray-brown all over with a pale belly and yellowish bill. Like other plateau finches, forages on the ground solitarily, in pairs, or in small flocks. Found in rocky open spaces such as plateau steppes and meadows at 4500-5400 meters.

Twisting and turning on long, angular wings, this relative of the sandpipers and plovers gives a swallowlike impression in flight. Adults are brown overall with an elegant black necklace and pale yellow throat. When in flight, note dark flight feathers, chestnut underwing coverts, bright white trailing edge to the wings, and a flashing white rump. Juveniles are a mottled gray-brown above and lack the adult's necklace. Flight call a harsh “tarrack.”

Stocky canopy dweller with a stout bill and striking plumage. The male has black upperparts, a broad black mask with a white crown and throat, a yellow wash on the breast, black streaks on the sides, and a tuft of reddish-orange feathers sticking out from under the wing. The female is similar but with an entirely black head and breast. Occurs in the canopy of lowland forest from central Panama into western Colombia. Usually in pairs or small groups.