Beryl-spangled Tanager

Small, active bird found locally in the southern Peruvian Andes. Brownish gray with a red cap, a white-streaked face, breast, and back, and a white eyebrow. Note its tiny, thumbtack-like bill and its fairly long, pointed tail. Forages in and near Polylepis patches, where it makes quick, short hops through dense bushy vegetation. Its song is a dry, rapid descending trill of chips.

Distinctive medium-sized woodpecker with significant variation across its wide range. Always look for a gray face and thin black moustache stripe. Males have a red forehead patch, which females lack. Varies significantly across range: birds from northern Europe to northeastern Asia have pale gray heads and pale green wings; birds in the rest of mainland Asia average darker overall, with dark napes and crowns; Sumatran birds are dark rusty cinnamon overall. Favored habitats vary with range, including many wooded or semi-wooded habitats from lowlands up into the highlands. Most commonly heard calls a sharp, high-pitched “pik” and a descending series of whistled notes that speeds up, then slows.

A medium-sized vulture with a silvery bill, a dark body, a grayish shine on the wings, a white back, and a distinctive white collar on the neck. In flight, the adult appears dark with a strikingly large white slab running across the underside of the wing. The juvenile is dark brown with fine pale streaks; it has a dark collar, pale feathers on the head, a dark bill, and no white on the back or underwing. Found in open areas and around habitation.