Manus Brush Cuckoo

A small inhabitant of moist woodlands where it feeds on nectar and fruit. Note the short and slightly down-curved bill. Males are glossy plumbeous blue with a brick-orange throat but can appear black in poor lighting. Females have a warm brown back that contrasts with a deep gray crown. The Jamaican Euphonia is superficially similar, but has a stubby bill and a greenish back. Vocalizations include a high, thin “tsit-tsit,” with the second note louder and higher in pitch, plus a thin, descending whistled “tsee-uh.”

Locally fairly common summer breeder in temperate rainforests of southern Chile and adjacent Argentina; migrates north in March–April to winter in Andes from Bolivia to Venezuela, returning in September–October. Usually seen in flight over forest and edge, circling high or kiting motionless in the wind; rarely seen perched. Note dark head and clean white throat, diagnostic dark “armpits,” and rather flat-winged gliding with wingtips curled up slightly. Compare with immatures of the larger Variable and Rufous-tailed Hawks.

Large, heavy-billed woodcreeper. Has rather unmarked plumage, but note the buffy eyebrow, moustachial stripe, and throat. No other woodcreeper within its range has such a large, strong bill. Inhabits deciduous dry forests and wooded caatinga. Song is a whining series of unmelodic notes, such as “nk-wiirh, week! weeer, weeer, weeur, weuur.”