Oahu Elepaio

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.

Small hummingbird found in a variety of woodland and brushy habitats. Male distinctive with purple-and-black throat. Female has whitish underparts with almost no buffy tones (perhaps a very light wash on flanks). Tends to pump its tail more than other hummingbirds. Readily comes to sugar water feeders and flower gardens. Common in summer over much of the western U.S., barely into Canada. Winter range extends just south of Mexico City, and increasingly regular on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. Very difficult to distinguish from Ruby-throated Hummingbird, especially females and young males; thankfully limited range overlap. Black-chinned averages somewhat dingier green above, longer-billed with a slight droop, and has slightly broader, more club-shaped outer wing feathers, but these differences are all extremely subtle.

A very small nondescript sunbird with a short orange-based bill that curves uniformly along its length; easily mistaken for females of other sunbirds. The only features on the olive upperparts are indistinct paler eyebrows and lines running under the eyes, and yellow edging to the wings. Although often hidden, the male has yellow or whitish (not red) tufts at the shoulders. Singles are local and inconspicuous at the edges of lowland and riverine forest, sometimes entering secondary growth; it joins mixed-flocks and is frequently attracted to epiphytes in mossy clumps. Calls a high-pitched “tseeep” and trills. Little Green and Fraser’s sunbirds are similar to Bates’s but brighter, with straighter bills and more distinct yellowish eye-rings; Ursula’s Sunbird has a long decurved bill and grayish face and underparts.