Streak-breasted Fantail

A typical pitta: plump, short-tailed, long-legged, and primarily terrestrial (sometimes perches up to call). Bright green above with electric blue shoulder patch and rump and black head with conspicuous pale brow. Underside golden-buff with black and bright red on the belly. Plumage varies geographically, with forms varying in eyebrow, throat color (white or black), and extent of red and black on belly. Juvenile duller, with little blue in wing, an orange-tipped bill, and a pinkish belly. Inhabits woodland, forest, scrub, and plantations in lowlands and hills; some populations migratory. Sometimes arboreal when calling. Voice varies throughout range; generally a variation on “wit-wit-deer” or “werwer-dew!”

Attractive small “finch” that is actually a tanager of the high Andes; found in villages, agricultural terraces, scrubby slopes, and bogs. Associates readily with other small seed-eating birds and in some places is tame and acclimated, begging for food at picnic sites. Handsome male is striking and distinctive with a golden back and plain dark wings (compare with smaller siskins). Female and immature are duller, but dark slaty hood and golden tones to back are distinctive. Compare with Gray-hooded Sierra-Finch to south and Peruvian Sierra-Finch to north.

A rather small, demure understory denizen resembling a cross between a robin and a flycatcher. Mostly dull brownish-olive with a rusty rump and a paler throat and belly. Juvenile is more mottled. A local and endangered bird found singly and in pairs in thick undergrowth of primary and secondary forest, thickets, and coffee plantations, resident in a narrow range along the Angolan escarpment between 810 and 1300 meters of elevation. Sits for long periods, sallying to catch insect prey. Calls include a soft series of descending whistles. May be mistaken for a flycatcher, but its furtive nature and preference for thick understory are unique within its range.