Speke's Weaver
Ploceus spekei
A chunky, short-tailed, long-billed weaver of dry country. Breeding males are mostly yellow with a black face mask, a pale eye, and a heavily streaked back. Females, non-breeding males, and juveniles are much duller, brownish-olive overall with a pale eye. Found locally in open savanna, often in small flocks. Superficially similar to the pale-eyed Lesser Masked-Weaver, but much chunkier and larger-billed, with a streakier back. Vocalizations are typical of weavers: “chek” notes and a squealing, sizzling “radio static” song.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Ploceus spekei
- Authority
- (Heuglin, 1861)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Ploceidae
- Genus
- Ploceus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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A plump flycatcher with brown upperparts, whitish underparts, and warm brown flanks. Note the pale feet and the large, bicolored bill with a hooked tip. Restricted to the forests of the Nicobar Islands, where it makes sallies for insects from low perches. Song said to be a rapid series of loud, melodic whistles ending with a soft, short “trrr.”
Brown-capped Redstart
Myioborus brunniceps
Attractive warbler of montane forest in Bolivia and northwestern Argentina. The broken white eye-ring helps distinguish it from other redstarts in Bolivia, and it is the only redstart found in Argentina. Also note the yellow underparts, rusty crown, and white underside of the tail. Feeds actively at low to middle levels of the forest and sometimes joins mixed-species flocks. Song is a high-pitched, ascending trill.
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Aphrastura spinicauda
Common and often noisy and conspicuous little bird of temperate southern forests, also ranging locally into matorral with taller trees. Found in pairs or small groups, at times flocks of tens in the nonbreeding season. Moves actively through foliage from canopy to low in thickets, even on the ground in leaf litter. Thorn-tailed Rayaditos are the core species in mixed-species winter feeding flocks. Plumage distinctive, with thick golden eyebrow, whitish bib (bib buffy on Chiloé Island), striped wings, and “thorny-tipped” tail.
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