Palm Lorikeet

A remarkably patterned quail, uncommon and difficult to spot as it runs through open grassy woodlands in dry regions of the southwest U.S. and Mexico. Male looks like he’s are wearing a black-and-white helmet; otherwise look for bold spots and streaks covering body and wings. Female is more subtly patterned with shades of brown; look for rounded, puffy head shape. Between bursts of running, often crouches motionless and becomes nearly invisible. Rarely flies unless flushed at very close range; most often seen crossing a road or trail. Male song is a rich descending whistle with unique ethereal tone like an incoming spaceship.

Medium-sized spiderhunter with an olive back and streaked gray underparts. Inhabits lowland and submontane forests and forest edges, where it feeds primarily on nectar in the understory; favors blossoms of banana and ginger. Very similar in appearance to Gray-breasted Spiderhunter; range overlap is poorly understood but appears to be minimal. Look for Bornean’s more intensely streaked underparts and slightly larger size. Long-billed Spiderhunter can show some streaking on the breast but is much larger and longer-billed, with yellowish underparts. Sometimes noisy, giving loud raspy nasal calls.

A distinctive, well patterned medium-sized barbet. Mostly black with a red patch on the forehead, a pale yellow stripe behind the eye, and heavy yellow markings on the back and belly. Found in humid forest at low and middle elevations. Somewhat similar to Hairy-breasted Barbet, but Yellow-spotted is smaller overall with a smaller bill and a red forehead. There are two vocalizations: a very fast, hollow trill and a much slower and lower-pitched series of several hoots. The trilling call seems to predominate in the eastern part of the range, and the hooting call in the west.