Brown-banded Antpitta
Grallaria milleri
Dingy-looking antpitta restricted to cloud forest in Colombia’s central Andes. Plumage is mostly brown with whitish throat and belly. Brown breast band is often very indistinct. Similar to Tawny Antpitta, but has a pale belly and inhabits forest. Like many other antpittas, it spends most of the time on the forest floor where it is normally very difficult to see in the gloom. It usually visits a feeder in the Rio Blanco Ecological Reserve near Manizales, where it is much easier to observe. Song is a three-note series, and each note is higher than the last.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Grallaria milleri
- Authority
- Chapman, 1912
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Grallariidae
- Genus
- Grallaria
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Striped Sparrow
Oriturus superciliosus
Big, fat, rather social and conspicuous sparrow. Endemic in highlands of Mexico. Occurs mainly in dry bunch grass within open pine woods. Feeds mainly on the ground but perches readily on rocks and in pine trees. Usually in groups that sometimes mix with other sparrows. Note the bold white eyebrow, rusty-brown cap, dark mask, and plain pale gray underparts. No similar species in its limited range.
Bannerman's Sunbird
Cyanomitra bannermani
A medium-sized sunbird with an olive back and gray belly. Male has a metallic bluish (may appear green in some light) hood and breast; female appears plain-headed with limited metallic plumage on crown. Immature like female, but darker and duller. Singles and pairs are uncommon residents of riparian forest, forest-edge, and broadleaved Miombo woodland. Sings a series of short jumbled high-pitched notes. Compared to similar Green-headed Sunbird, smaller Bannerman’s Sunbird has a shorter, straighter bill, and mostly blue head (duller on female), lacking an obvious green crown.
Orange-banded Thrush
Geokichla peronii
An unmistakable thrush with a “tiger-striped” face pattern, a white throat, a broad orange chest band, orange flanks, a white belly, and extensive bold white wing markings. Juveniles show rusty wing spots, pale streaking, a black and buff breast band, and black flank spots. Forages singly or in pairs on the ground and in trees, in forests and wooded patches within lowlands and hills. Confined to the eastern Lesser Sundas. Gives a rich, musical song characteristic of thrushes, with sequences of fluty upslurred and downslurred whistled notes comprising repeated phrases mixed with softer, chuckling sounds and thin, high-pitched notes.
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