Blue Jewel-babbler

A medium-sized, long-tailed bird of lowland and foothill wooded thickets. Blackish plumage with short white eye-brow, white patch on the side of the throat and prominent white tail tips. Also white-spotted chest and wing bars. Secretive and difficult to see. Keeps to cover with tail often cocked and fanned. Similar to Black Thicket-Fantail, but White-bellied unsurprisingly has a white belly. Also similar to Sooty Thick-Fantail but has the white tail tips. Voice, a falling note followed by a high-pitch ringing note “joo-wii!”

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.

Chunky, mid-sized robin-like bird. Males are pale gray and orange, while females are gray-brown. Madagascar endemic that is found in coastal spiny forest and scrub in the southwest. Perches up conspicuously. Song is a variable mix of thin whistles and raspy notes. Paler than Forest Rock-Thrush, with little or no overlap in range. Female similar to female Madagascar Magpie-Robin, but smaller and grayer, without white patch in the wing.