Buff-bridled Inca-Finch

Impressive dark falcon, with broad shoulders, feathered legs, and long, pointed wings. Favors open environments, where it is an aggressive aerial hunter, frequently observed in rapid pursuit of birds. Often confused with darker individuals of Brown Falcon, a species with larger, blocky head, unfeathered legs, less pointed wings, and more pronounced tear-drop mark below the eye.

Smudgy, dark brown babbler with a short tail and a long bill shaped like a scimitar (a curved sword). Generally similar in appearance to other long-billed wren-babblers but no range overlap. Forages on the ground in lowland and mountainous broadleaved forests, often in densely vegetated areas where it can be exceedingly difficult to see; listen for its song, a series of short haunting whistles.

Tiny, plump gray-and-brown bird that looks almost tailless. Males are ashy gray with warm reddish brown on their back half; females are similar, with the warm reddish brown extending farther up the back to the crown. Forages singly or in pairs low in dense vegetation in stunted elfin forest and humid shrubby grassland at high elevations, at and above the treeline; often found in Polylepis groves. A bit less shy than most tapaculos, but still heard far more often than seen. Its song is a single squeaky “tcheur” note, repeated at a steady pace of about 1-2 notes per second in a long series.