Black-crowned Fulvetta

Small jacamar with a pale brown head and bluish-black wings and tail. Smaller than other jacamars in range, with a shorter tail. Note the brown breast and chestnut band on the upper belly that contrast with the white throat, belly, and undertail. Sexes similar. No overlap with the superficially similar Brown Jacamar. Locally common, found in pairs or groups in the top of trees or exposed branches in dry forest and edges, gallery forest, and savanna woodlands. Song is a series of high pitched notes that accelerate to end in shorter trills “weet, weeet, weeet, t’weet-t’ t’weet’ t’weet’ weet’ ti’ti’ti’t’t’t.”

Sleek, secretive diving duck with a bright orange-red bill and a long, shaggy crest. Relatively rare East Asian endemic. Male has a glossy green head and a black-and-white back. Female has a rusty brown head and gray back. Both sexes have prominent dark-edged white “scales” on the sides that distinguish them from other merganser species. Breeds in cavities along forested montane rivers and winters on fast-flowing rivers and lakes.

A small honeyeater with a downcurved bill, limited to the islands of Buru and Seram. Spectacular male is unmistakable, all brilliant scarlet except for the blackish wings, tail, and belly. Female is dull gray-brown except for a diagnostic red wash on the head. Prefers forests and forest edge in foothills and mountains, where encountered singly or in pairs, sometimes with mixed-species feeding flocks. Calls on Buru include a disyllabic, slurring “tsiwit” as well as a “tsisewoo” song with trembling quality at the end. Voice of Seram birds differs, possibly indicating that they are a different species: “twee’ti’dit’tee.”