Wing-barred Piprites

Large, turkey-like bird found only in the forests of northern Trinidad. It is black with white patches on the wings and crown, a light blue face, and an azure dewlap (flap of bare skin) that dangles from its throat. It is usually seen high in the trees, but on rare occasions can descend to the ground. Song is a series of drawn out, rising whistles, and it also sometimes rattles its wings loudly in flight. Locally known as “pawi”, this impressive bird is highly endangered due to hunting, and is regularly seen in only a few places, such as near the town of Grand Riviere.

A bulbul-sized olive-brown bird that sports a diagnostic all-red bill and a red eye surrounded by a fleshy yellow wattle. The juvenile lacks the bright bill and eye coloration. Small groups occur in savanna and farmland, where they require large wild ungulates and domestic stock to forage on; they clamber agilely over host mammals, gleaning ticks, mites, and other ectoparasites, and occasionally drinking host blood. As they fly between large mammals, they give a distinctive “tsik-tsik” call. The similar Yellow-billed Oxpecker differs from Red-billed Oxpecker by having a yellow bill base and pale rump and lacking an eye-wattle.

Tiny songbird of mountain and hill forests; ranges from the Himalayas south to the Malay Peninsula on the Asian mainland, with an isolated population in Taiwan’s highlands. Adult male is dark blue above and pale creamy white below, with a black stripe leading down the belly from a brilliantly red patch like a bloodstain on the breast. Female is much plainer, brownish-olive above and off-white below; lacks the bright white throat of Plain and female Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers. Often forages at flowers blooming in the canopy. Gives a high, thin, up-and-down “tsee’ip, tsee’ip, tsee’ip” and a rising series of ticks (often ending with more metallic notes); calls include dry tick notes and high, thin “tseet”s.