Pygmy Cupwing
Pnoepyga pusilla
Essentially a tiny brown tennis ball supported by tiny chopsticks. Dark brown above with densely packed black-and-white scaling on the underside. Gives the impression of a tailless rodent as it makes its way furtively through dense shrubbery and leaf litter. Can be quite vocal and is jarringly loud for its size, giving single well-spaced piercing whistles on different high pitches, and occasionally an accelerating, usually rising rapid series of whistles. Also gives a sharp chip.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Pnoepyga pusilla
- Authority
- Hodgson, 1845
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Pnoepygidae
- Genus
- Pnoepyga
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Vertical migration
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Jameson's Antpecker
Parmoptila jamesoni
A small, slender-billed, warbler-like waxbill with pinkish-brown legs and different-looking sexes: the male has a red forehead, dull brown upperparts, and a rusty-chestnut face and underparts, while the female has a tawny-brown face and cheeks, pale buff underparts with scattered dark chevrons, and dull brown upperparts. Pairs and small groups forage by themselves or in mixed-species flocks, in the understory and middle levels of primary, secondary, and gallery forest, often near water. Eats insects, with a fondness for ants. Call is a high-pitched, downslurred “whseet.”
Pale-tailed Barbthroat
Threnetes leucurus
Scarce hummingbird that looks similar to a hermit. Look for buffy patch across the base of the neck, bold whitish flashes in the tail, and a fairly long, slightly decurved bill. Face pattern is rather diffuse, but look for the whitish mustache and pale line behind the eye. Found in the understory of forest and edges in lowlands and foothills below around 1,100 m where it stays low, quickly zipping around flower patches.
Indian Robin
Copsychus fulicatus
A nondescript robin; males are primarily black with chestnut bottom feathers, although males in the northern population have brownish upperparts. Males also have a white shoulder patch and a relatively long tail. Females have completely brown upperparts, lack the male’s white shoulder patch, and have grayish-brown underparts. They are generally seen in pairs, foraging on the ground with the tail cocked up. Found in open country, at forest edges, around human habitation, and in scrub lands.
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