Piping Bellbird

An upright bird of montane forests. Male is dark blue above and orange below, with a dark face. Female looks completely different: gray-brown with boldly scaled underparts and a whitish crescent behind the ear. Female White-throated Rock Thrush is similar, but browner, with a spotted back and no pale ear crescent. Usually seen in pairs, perched quietly on a rock or exposed branch at canopy level. Song is a series of buzzy whistles; most common call is a distincive low, harsh scratching noise.

Medium-sized, grayish flycatcher, commonly encountered in the canopy of tall forest. One of the more prominent Austral migrants in South America, with the bulk of the population moving into the Amazon basin during the Austral winter, becoming a common sight from canopy towers. During the Austral summer, it prefers deciduous and semi-humid forests. Size, overall grayish coloration, darker cap and eyeline, and brownish tinge on the back make this species easy to identify. Generally quiet for a flycatcher; its high-pitched, buzzy song is mostly heard on the breeding grounds.

A bright green insect hunter with a long bill and triangular starling-like wings. Adult has a bright blue throat, orange-brown crown and nape, and long trailing central tail feathers. Sexes are alike. Juveniles have a paler blue throat, no orange-brown coloration, and no long tail extensions. Often hunts from exposed perches such as telephone lines or snags, on which it rubs its venomous quarry so as to disarm it. Call is a bright, inflected “chileep.”