White-browed Ground-Tyrant

A medium-sized nectar feeder endemic to New Zealand. Note yellowish-green plumage, blackish wings and tail, and red eyes. Male has purple tints on his head. Female browner, with a bluish gloss on the head. Juveniles show a clear yellowish cheek stripe. Widespread in the North and South Islands of New Zealand. Favors native and exotic forest, scrub, and urban parks and gardens. Listen for its melodious song consisting of a series of tuneful notes. Alarm call is a harsh, rapidly repeated “yeng.” Distinguished from European Greenfinch by lack of a pale, conical bill and larger size. Listen for lack of grunts, wheezes, and clicks to distinguish song from that of Tui.

A well-named tiny songbird, “a head with wings,” with rather long bill, long legs, and very short tail. Long buffy supercilium is conspicuous even in the gloomy leaf litter and dense shrubbery where this minute bird lurks. Other brown, skulking warblers such as Dusky and Radde's have much longer tails and lack the strongly contrasting buffy supercilium. Song an insect-like, throbbing buzz recalling a katydid or cicada.

This chickenlike bird is bright rufous on the face and underparts and brown above. Female similar to male but rufous more restricted to the upper breast with contrasting gray belly. Also note slight crest, stout bill, and some bare gray skin around the eye. Uncommon in cloud forest of western Colombia. Shy and difficult to see; stays in small groups on the forest floor and rarely comes out in the open. Listen for rollicking whistled song, similar to other wood-quail.