Flame Bowerbird
Sericulus ardens
A very brightly-colored bowerbird of lowland and foothill forests in southern New Guinea. Male unmistakeable. Bright yellow body with black wing edge and tail. Scarlet from the head down to the shoulders and back, resembling a headscarf. Sometimes a yellow line up the center of the chest up to the bill. Female, brown above with yellow underparts and also a distinctive yellow line down the throat. Makes an avenue bower in clearings. Calls, a downward squeal “kwiiiiiiuuu!” and some harsh rasping.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Sericulus ardens
- Authority
- (D'Albertis & Salvadori, 1879)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Ptilonorhynchidae
- Genus
- Sericulus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds

Brown Teal
Anas chlorotis
Largest of the three endemic New Zealand teal species. Both sexes are primarily dark brown in color. Male in breeding plumage has green iridescence on head. Females and juveniles are a duller dark mottled brown. Both sexes show conspicuous white eye-ring around a dark brown eye. Mostly restricted to northern North Island (Northland, Great Barrier Island, and Coromandel Peninsula). Successfully bred in captivity for reintroduction efforts across the country in predator controlled areas. Crepuscular to nocturnal, favoring margins of small streams with overhanging vegetation and even stock ponds for feeding and breeding. Distinguished from similar looking Gray Teal and vagrant Chestnut Teal by lack of red eye, and lack of obvious white patches on the upperwing.

Yellow-browed Antbird
Hypocnemis hypoxantha
Rather small antbird with a disjunct distribution. Males have a yellow face and underparts with a black crown, eye-line, and streaks on the breast. Females have a yellow streaked crown. Southeastern subspecies has ochraceous lower underparts. Song is a descending and decelerating series of fluted notes becoming harsher at the end. Found in the understory of humid forests, often in areas of transitional forest or poor soils. Rarely accompanies mixed-species flocks. The similar Spix's and Peruvian Warbling-Antbirds have white breasts, and the song of Peruvian is somewhat slower-paced.

Plain-flanked Rail
Rallus wetmorei
Large, plain rail with two color morphs, either dark chocolate brown or paler medium brown. Most with a few white feathers on head and back, especially dark morph. More often in pairs than alone, walking in the darkest areas of mangroves. Occurs in coastal salt lagoons, preferably in black mangrove and occasionally in red mangrove. Easy to find by voice, although sounds virtually identical to Mangrove Rail. In its habitat, the only all-brown rail with no barring on underparts. Range restricted and endangered, endemic to a small section of coast in northern Venezuela.
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