Puerto Rican Amazon

Small rail of grassland habitats. Very shy and elusive bird that is unlikely to be seen unless expressly searched for. Male has a rufous head and black body with heavy white streaks. Female is dark brown with barring below. Found mainly in seasonally flooded grassland, and sometimes in drier grassland. Main call is a simple, repeated hoot. Also gives quicker series of calls with a similar quality. Similar to Striped and Red-chested Flufftails, but males have more white below, with less rufous on the chest than Red-chested, and more than Striped. Females are darker below.

Tiny hummingbird with a very short tail found in arid scrub and desert in western Ecuador and northwestern Peru. Male has glittering violet “beard” that is bordered by white above and below. Female lacks throat patch and has a buffy tinge to underparts, faint facial stripes, and a white tip to the tail. Female is told from other similar species in range by very short tail that does not reach wingtips when perched and white tip of tail (not white edges or corners).

Unique medium-sized owl of the boreal forest. Remarkably long-tailed for an owl; reminiscent of a small hawk in flight with quick, snappy wingbeats. Pale eyes give it an angry look. Brownish overall with white spotting above, barred underparts, and spotted crown. Feeds on small rodents by sight and sound. Often seen perched on the very top of a spruce tree or snag, surveying the surrounding landscape for prey. When rodent populations crash, large numbers of Northern Hawk Owls can move south of their normal range.