Eastern Parotia
Parotia helenae
A fairly large, short-tailed bird of mid-montane forest canopy. Male is mainly black with a bronzy-scaled chest and 6 antennalike feathers projecting from the back of the head. Note the blue eyes. The female is warm-brown above with barred underparts and a black head. The male has an elaborate dance at a terrestrial display court. Females are similar to female lophorinas, but are larger and lack a pale eyebrow stripe. The vocalizations are poorly known, but likely include various rasps and parrotlike squawks.
Identification
Its appearance resembles Lawes's parotia, of which it is sometimes considered a subspecies. It differs in the male frontal crest's and the female's dorsal plumage colors. The male has an iridescent golden green breast shield, elongated black plumes, three erectile spatule head-wires behind each blue iris eye and golden brown nasal tuft feathers. The female is smaller than the male, with brown plumage and black barred below.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Parotia helenae
- Authority
- De Vis, 1897
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Paradisaeidae
- Genus
- Parotia
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
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Ramphocelus nigrogularis
Small, attractive tanager; bright crimson and black with a black mask and silver bill. Most commonly found in vegetation around oxbow lakes, also sometimes found in nearby forests and along rivers. Sexes similar though females are slightly duller than males. Extensive crimson and black mask easily distinguish this species from other tanagers within its range.
Black-browed Triller
Lalage atrovirens
A medium-sized bird of lowland and foothill forest canopy. Black upperparts with white in the wing and a white rump in the male, white underparts with barring in the female. Limited geographical overlap with White-winged triller, but should be separated by habitat, with Black-browed in forest rather than open habitats. Voice includes various whistles, chips and a musical, rolling chatter.
Gray-crowned Yellowthroat
Geothlypis poliocephala
Retiring, olive and yellow warbler of savannas and grassy fields with scattered bushes or low palmetto shrubs. Not in wet marshes, unlike Common Yellowthroat. Perches on bushes and fences to sing and call, when often cocks and twitches tail, and sometimes raises a bushy crest. Sexes look alike, with a grayish crown and small black mask between the eyes and bill; populations south to Honduras have white eye-arcs, lacking in populations of southern Central America.
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