Middendorff's Grasshopper Warbler

A medium-sized woodland species that prefers moist forests where it typically “flycatches” from perches in thick foliage beneath the canopy. Note its bright rusty tail and the extensive rust on its wings. The Sad Flycatcher is much smaller-bodied and smaller-billed and lacks the rusty tail and wings. The similar Stolid Flycatcher is also smaller-billed and smaller-bodied with more limited rust on tail and wings. Rufous-tailed Flycatcher has a darker gray head and chest than either Sad or Stolid Flycatchers. Vocalizations include a slightly squeaky, emphatic “or-will,” a whistled “pi-pi-pi-pi-pee-pee-pee-pee,” and a harsh squeaky “pew” given in series, plus brief emphatic twitters.

A large canary with different-looking males and females. The male has bright yellow underparts, yellow-green upperparts, and a well-marked face pattern. The female is drab gray-brown with streaky underparts, yellowish edges of the wing feathers, and a yellow rump. Pairs and small groups occupy dry rangelands including coastal scrub, Karoo, and arid thornveld, where they are resident and nomadic, moving when food becomes scarce. The larger Brimstone Canary has a chunkier bill than Yellow Canary and prefers moist coastal thickets and woodland.

Small heron with strikingly different adult and immature plumages. Adult is distinctive: mostly grayish-blue with a contrasting deep purplish head and neck. Also note greenish legs and bicolored bill. Immatures are all white in their first year, with tiny dark tips on the outer wingtips. Take care to separate from Snowy Egret; note Little Blue always has dull greenish legs, grayish or greenish lores, and usually a two-toned bill. Little Blue also forages more slowly, often pausing for long periods of time with neck outstretched and bill pointed down. In their first spring, Little Blues start to show splotches of gray-blue plumage. Locally common from the eastern U.S. to South America; especially common near the coast. Found in a variety of wetland habitats, especially shallow marshy pools.