Black-and-white Triller
Lalage melanoleuca
A medium-sized bird of lowland and foothill forest canopy. Has a black tail with white corners, black wings with a large white patch, and a white rump. Male has a black crown and back and entirely white underparts. Females have a gray crown and back. Northern females have white underparts with a barred throat and chest, while southern females have a gray throat and chest with faint barring below. Similar to Pied Triller, but lacks the white brow and is found in forest rather than open habitats. Song consists of a 1- to 3-syllabled whistled phrase repeated 5-20 times in a row.
Identification
Medium, sexes differ, races vary in size and extent of gray in lower back in male, or relative darkness of the grey in female. in melanoleuca female top of head, upper back, most of tail and wing black glossed with green; center of black gray; rump, tips of outer tail feathers, median wing coverts, edges of greater coverts and secondaries (all forming a broad white wing bar), inner edges to primaries, underwing and underparts pure white. female differs by having head and upper back light gray, rump and underparts grayish white finely barred with darker gray; undertail coverts white; bill black; eye dark brown; legs dark grayish black.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Lalage melanoleuca
- Authority
- (Blyth, 1861)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Campephagidae
- Genus
- Lalage
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Other Birds
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Crax fasciolata
Very large terrestrial species. Males are mostly black with a curly crest and a white belly and vent. Note the yellow knob on a black-tipped bill. Females are barred black and white above and have a buffy belly and vent, a black bill with some yellow at the base of the lower bill. Usually found in humid forests and gallery forests foraging singly or in pairs; can be very tame. Commonest call is a high-pitched whistled “kseuw.”
Ayres's Hawk-Eagle
Hieraaetus ayresii
Small black-and-white eagle. Has a compact, powerful shape, and the hint of a crest. The upperparts are black, and there are heavy black markings on the underparts and evenly across the underwing. Found in thick woodland and forest. Soars frequently. Call is a loud, repeated “kwee-ya.” Similar to other hawk-eagles, but has more heavily marked underparts. Easily separated in flight, when Ayres’s Hawk-Eagle shows black barring across the entire underwing.
Lava Gull
Leucophaeus fuliginosus
Distinctive gull endemic to Galápagos. Adult is easy to identify by sooty-gray body, black head, white crescents above and below eye, and pale rump. Juvenile is grayish brown with tan scaling on the back and wings, and a pale rump. Found along the coast, almost never venturing inland or very far out to sea. Forages along beaches and rocky shorelines, and often perches on boats and docks. It has the smallest population of any gull in the world, estimated at less than 1000 birds.
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