Boyer's Cuckooshrike

Tiny, compact bird, a typical flowerpecker with a short bill and very short tail. Endemic to the Tanimbar and Kai islands. Adult male glossy blue-black above, with a red chest and patchily pinkish-red underparts. Female gray above and pale below, with red rump and undertail coverts. Juvenile plain, with orange bill base and undertail coverts. Inhabits forest and forest edge habitats. Gives a high-pitched “tsee’ip”, a metallic trill, thin “tsip” notes, and short buzzy notes.

A common blue-headed sunbird of montane forests and forest edges, rarely found in lower-elevation foothills. Uniformly yellow-green body starkly contrasts with a dark purple-blue or green-blue iridescent head. Bill is relatively long with a noticeable curve.  Visually similar to other “hooded” sunbirds, most notably Green-headed Sunbird, but Cameroon Sunbird has a uniformly colored body and a darker hood. Vocalizations include a sequence of rapid, well spaced whistles “tiu tiu tiwu tiwu tiu tiu” of variable length and pitch, rapid jumbles of mechanical whistles on varying pitches, and individual sharp “tiu!” and “tik!” calls.

Often draws attention to its presence by its song: an ascending sequence of “kwa” notes, similar to Green-backed Trogon, but faster. Two subspecies occur in Brazil, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina with limited geographical overlap that vary in the color of the breast and eyering; the southern one has a red belly and eyering, while the northern one has a yellow belly and eyering. The males of both subspecies have a violet-blue head and breast, a green back, and a white undertail. Females have a dull gray breast and the undertail is gray with white tips. Found in the middle to upper levels of forests and woodlands.