Lesser Swamp Warbler

A spectacular, mostly blue-gray crane with a black-and-white face and a crown of golden-yellow plumes. Immatures are rustier than adults. Singles, pairs, and flocks prefer wetlands, flooded grasslands, and man-made water bodies, but they can range widely through other open habitats when foraging. Resident but may be locally nomadic in response to rain. Groups can often be detected by their low plaintive bugling “maaah-hem” call. The similar Black Crowned-Crane differs in having slaty-gray coloration, smaller red facial wattles, and red-and-white (rather than white) cheek patches.

A long- and stiff-tailed bird with primarily rusty-brown upperparts and dull orangish underparts. The head, mantle, and neck region are a dull, sooty black. The long graduated tail is pale gray with a wide black terminal band. Note the conspicuous silvery-gray, white, and black patterns on the wings. The blackish-gray bill is stout with a hooked tip. Found in a wide range of habitats from woodlands to scrubby patches, singly or in pairs feeding in the treetops. The call is a loud metallic “krowwiiii kroo.”

A small brown duck with a pale throat and scalloped plumage. The face is sometimes all white, but always has a white eye-ring. In flight, there is a white panel on the upperwing and white “armpits” on the underwing. Quite gregarious, gathering in marshy waterbodies. Nests in tree holes.