Crested Finchbill
Spizixos canifrons
Tea-green bulbul with a dark gray head and a spiffy erect crest. Black-crested Bulbul is structurally somewhat similar but is darker green with an all-black head and pale eyes. Crested Finchbill inhabits middle to upper-elevation forests and edges, where it often gathers in very large flocks. Bold and approachable; can often be found in field edges, parks, and gardens. Gives distinctively bubbly ascending trills, often in distinct phrases.
Identification
The crested finchbill (Spizixos canifrons) is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found in south-eastern Asia from China and India to Indochina.
Taxonomy
The crested finchbill was formally described in 1845 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth under the binomial name Spizixos canifrons. He specified the type locality as Cherrapunji in the Indian state of Meghalaya of northeast India. The specific epithet combines the Latin canus meaning "grey" with frons meaning "forehead".<p>Two subspecies are recognized:
- Scientific name
- Spizixos canifrons
- Authority
- Blyth, 1845
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Pycnonotidae
- Genus
- Spizixos
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: rising.
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Sultan's Cuckoo-Dove
Macropygia doreya
A large, long-tailed brown dove with a pale brown head and underparts and darker rufous-brown upperparts. Male displays little or no barring on breast and a pale nape patch. Females show extensive barring on neck. Singles, pairs, or small groups inhabit varied habitats, including forests, edges, woodlands, and gardens from the coast to the mountains. Larger than Black-billed Cuckoo-Dove, with a paler underside and an unbarred tail. Gives a distinctive two-note call, rising on the final part: “puk-hooa.”
Rufous-vented Paradise-Flycatcher
Terpsiphone rufocinerea
This relatively short-tailed paradise-flycatcher is often found near forest edges and around villages and towns in gardens. Both sexes have gray heads and undersides with blue bills and blue eye-rings, as well as a red back, red wings, red tail, and most importantly, a red vent. Males are similar to females but have longer central tail feathers and darker glossy black heads. Similar to Bates’s Paradise-Flycatcher, but Rufous-vented Paradise-Flycatcher males have longer central tail feathers and darker heads with a more prominent crest. Some individuals are best left unidentified. Songs are similar to those of other paradise-flycatchers, consisting of repeated, whiny whistles “two-two-TEE-TEE-two-two-ter” or clearer “tweer-tweer-tweer” sounds, with variations in pitch and number of notes. Calls include whiny, rasping “heh” notes as well as other chatters and dry trills.
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
Oceanites oceanicus
Small and fluttery. Dark blackish-brown overall with even-width white rump patch and conspicuous pale wing panels. Long legs extend past the tail in flight; difficult to spot unless close. Frequently hovers and patters feet on surface of water when feeding. Most often seen in small, loose groups; sometimes feeds or rests on the water in a dense flock. Eats plankton from the surface of the water. Vexed taxonomy might include several cryptic species. Breeds in Antarctica and islands in the southern oceans. Ranges across all oceans when not breeding, mainly from May to October, typically staying offshore but sometimes seen from land. Most common in North Atlantic.
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