Black-bellied Myzomela

Long-tailed blackbird, very similar to Great-tailed Grackle but smaller. Male is darker black with less obvious glossiness (but still some, usually greenish); female is very similar to female Great-tailed but paler below. Extremely limited range in the vicinity of Lake Nicaragua and Lake Managua, where small flocks can be found in open grasslands and wetlands.

Small, grayish-brown sandpiper. Typically shows relatively short, blunt-tipped bill, but this varies across the breeding range: western populations are shortest-billed, eastern populations are longest, and females have longer bills than males! Also note blackish legs, although they can appear dull gray or greenish. In breeding plumage, fairly pale grayish brown, sometimes with brighter rusty cap and cheek. Nonbreeding is plain gray above and white below. Juveniles have attractive scaly pattern on upperparts, and variable coloration: usually grayish with some buffy areas, occasionally brighter rufous. Most similar to Western and Least Sandpipers. Western averages slightly larger and longer-billed, with brighter rufous on breeding adults and juveniles; nonbreeding birds paler but extremely similar to Semipalmated. Least Sandpiper is darker and browner. Breeds on high Arctic tundra. Migrates to South America for the winter; very rarely lingers in the U.S. past November, unlike Western Sandpiper. Usually found in flocks, sometimes in very large numbers. Prefers open mudflats, but also found in marshes and beaches.

A red-eyed masked-weaver with a plain olive-yellow back and pink-brown legs. The breeding male has a black face mask extending to the hind-crown and almost enveloping the head, and a strong chestnut breast and flanks (mid-belly is yellowish). Female and juvenile are dull green above with wingbars, and yellowish below. Pairs and colonies are very localized residents of riverside vegetation, preferring trees to reedbeds for breeding, at Lake Tshangalele and Kiubo Falls in the southeastern DRC. The ranges of most similar masked-weavers do not overlap, but breeding male Tanganyika Masked-Weaver has a less extensive black mask; Katanga and Southern Masked-Weavers are much yellower.