Black-eared Hemispingus
Sphenopsis melanotis
Small warblerlike tanager found in the Andes from extreme western Venezuela to Bolivia. Brownish above and tawny-orange below, with color concentrated on the breast. Note gray nape and crown, and black cheek. Some geographic variation: birds on west slope of Andes in Ecuador and Colombia are dullest with no black cheek, while birds in northwest Peru and southern Ecuador are brightest below with a bold white eyebrow. Usually uncommon; found in pairs in the understory or middle levels of montane forests and edges from around 1,400–2,500 m. Especially apt to be found in areas with chusquea bamboo. Listen for its sputtering chatter.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Sphenopsis melanotis
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Tyrannidae
- Genus
- Sphenopsis
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Plumbeous Antbird
Myrmelastes hyperythrus
Large, short-tailed antbird of floodplain forest understory. Both sexes largely gray with a bare blue skin patch around the eye and a prominent white spots on the shoulder. Females are particularly distinctive with extensive orange underparts. Forages singly or in pairs in dense undergrowth, like heliconias and streamside vegetation. Song is a chortling accelerating trill.
Partridge Pigeon
Geophaps smithii
Medium-sized pigeon, usually seen on the ground in open woodland or along roadsides in northwestern Northern Territory and the northern Kimberley in Western Australia. Plain brown plumage, with white stripe along the edge of the breast. Distinctive facial markings, with comical red (Northern Territory) or yellow (Western Australia) facial skin. Takes flight with a loud clatter of wings. Compare Squatter Pigeon, Flock Bronzewing (with black-and-white facial markings), and both Chestnut-quilled and White-quilled Rock-Pigeons (with pale wing panels).
Antarctic Tern
Sterna vittata
A light gray medium-sized tern. Black cap extends to bill in breeding plumage. Bill and legs red. In non-breeding birds, cap reduced to just the area behind the eye, bill has dull pinkish color, and underparts are white. Breeds in the circumpolar subantarctic region. Generally known to stay close to their breeding sites. Migrating Arctic Tern could occur in the same area, but not in breeding plumage, and would show more prominent black markings on outer primaries. White-fronted Tern can be distinguished by its larger body, lighter coloring, and longer, thinner, all-black bill.
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