Yellow-cheeked Tit

Machlolophus spilonotus

This dashing medium-sized tit can be found in broadleaf and mixed hill forests, as well as adjacent parks and gardens. Utterly unmistakable, with a bright yellow face and nape, which contrast smartly with a black crest, throat, and breast. Wings are gray and black with white spots and bars. Gregarious; often in small flocks of its own species or with large mixed feeding flocks. Song is a bright, repetitive “chew-wee-ee, chew-wee-ee, chew-wee-ee.” Calls vary, but usually incorporate several sharp notes and one or two lower, buzzier notes.

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Machlolophus spilonotus
Authority
(Bonaparte, 1850)
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Paridae
Genus
Machlolophus

Range and habitat

Migration
Vertical migration

Conservation

Population trend
rising

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

Bar-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit

Limosa lapponica

Gangly wader with a long bicolored bill. Breeding plumage is dark brick-red below (male) or pale orangey (female); nonbreeding plumage is overall gray-brown with white belly; compare to Black-tailed Godwit. In flight shows rather plain upperwings with only a faint whitish wing stripe; white rump and finely barred tail. Mainly coastal away from tundra breeding grounds. Often in flocks feeding on mudflats and in brackish coastal lagoons, roosting in adjacent freshwater habitats. Feeds by probing its long bill into the mud.

Northern Cassowary

Northern Cassowary

Casuarius unappendiculatus

An enormous flightless bird of lowland rainforest. Shaggy black plumage, blue head and bright red or yellow around the base of the neck. Large casque flattened at the back and a single wattle from the throat. A very shy and little-known species which, like other cassowaries, forages on the forest floor, mainly for fallen fruit. Similar to Southern Cassowary but Northern has single rather than double wattle, different-shaped casque and usually red or yellow all the way around the base of the throat.

Banded Barbet

Banded Barbet

Lybius undatus

A medium-sized barbet with a black back, a barred belly, and a red patch above the bill. There is considerable geographical variation; the throat varies from speckled to solidly black, and the head can be black with a thin white eyebrow, or black-and-white. Found at middle elevations in montane woodland in the Abyssinian highlands. Not very vocal, but does give quiet rasping calls. Has a red patch above the bill like Red-fronted Barbet, but easily separated by the barred belly. 

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