Speckle-breasted Antpitta

Cryptopezus nattereri

Small plump bird with a short tail, long legs, and large eyes. Very secretive and hard to spot; walks quietly on the ground of lowland humid and montane forests with a dense understory. Olive-brown above and spotted below with a pale throat. The song is a series of whistled notes increasing in volume towards the end.

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Cryptopezus nattereri
Authority
(Pinto, 1937)
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Formicariidae
Genus
Cryptopezus

Range and habitat

Migration
Resident species

Conservation

Population trend
stable

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

Pale Chanting-Goshawk

Pale Chanting-Goshawk

Melierax canorus

A tall, long-tailed, pewter-gray hawk with pink-orange legs and bill base. In flight the wing pattern is strongly contrasting, with pale inner hind wings and a dark tip. Pairs inhabit thornveld, steppe, and desert below 2000 m. Chanting-goshawks give a strong gull-like “kleeeu” call, hence their name. Dark Chanting-Goshawk prefers moister woodland, has darker flight feathers creating a uniformly colored wing, and always has a gray-barred rump; Pale Chanting-Goshawk is paler, with pale panels in the wings and an unbarred white rump.

Perija Thistletail

Perija Thistletail

Asthenes perijana

A gray and brown bird with a long, wispy tail restricted to the Perijá Mountains along the Colombia-Venezuela border. Separated from Streak-backed Canastero by having a plain back, no orange chin patch, and a longer tail with thinner feathers. Inhabits dense thickets at high elevations near and above tree line. Gives a series of piping notes that quickly rises in pitch and then speeds up into a trill.

Yellow-eyed Junco

Yellow-eyed Junco

Junco phaeonotus

This distinctive sparrow is common in open montane woodland usually dominated by pine. Primarily a Mexican species, barely enters U.S. Much like Gray-headed and Red-backed subspecies of Dark-eyed Junco but with staring yellow eye and rufous back usually extending onto wings. Otherwise pale gray, darkest around the eye. Bill half black, half yellow. White outer tail feathers like Dark-eyed Junco. Forages on the ground, but perches higher when singing. Song has a similar ringing tone to Dark-eyed Junco, but usually with several distinct sections of chips and trills.

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