Somali Bunting

A large, long-tailed brown dove with a pale brown head and underparts and darker rufous-brown upperparts. Male displays little or no barring on breast and a pale nape patch. Females show extensive barring on neck. Singles, pairs, or small groups inhabit varied habitats, including forests, edges, woodlands, and gardens from the coast to the mountains. Larger than Black-billed Cuckoo-Dove, with a paler underside and an unbarred tail. Gives a distinctive two-note call, rising on the final part: “puk-hooa.”

Nest parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of Peters’s Twinspot. Breeding males are glossy greenish-black, and in good light may show a paler gray wash across the head and breast. Females and non-breeding males are streaky and brown on the back, with a bold facial pattern and pale underparts with gray across the breast. The bill is whitish and the legs pale red. Found along forest edge, and in cultivation and moist woodland. The song is a fast mix of scolding and squeaky notes, often mixed with imitations of the vocalizations of its host twinspot: a fast, silvery trill. Similar to other indigobirds, but breeding male separated by its greenish gloss and all-black wings. Non-breeding male and female can be tentatively identified by the gray wash across the breast.

Very large, heavy-set pale gray goose found across parts of coastal southern Australia. Note pale yellow and slightly drooping bill. Mostly seen as pairs or loose flocks scattered around coastal wetlands, salt marshes, and grassy pasture areas.