White-tailed Cisticola

Medium-sized antpitta. Typical antpitta shape: plump and short-tailed with long legs, like a grapefruit on stilts. Mostly brown with a brighter cinnamon belly and grayish crown. Note blotchy white mustache stripe. Very similar in appearance to Scaled Antpitta but typically occurs at slightly higher elevations. Moustached has a less pronounced scaly pattern on the upperparts, browner cheeks, and a slower, higher-pitched song without a stutter in the middle than Scaled Antpitta. Fairly rare and local within limited range in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador. Occurs in mossy cloud forest in the lower subtropics from around 1,850–2,000 m. Very rarely seen; typically stays hidden in the dense understory, occasionally hopping onto forest trails at dawn or dusk.

A medium-sized dark-backed albatross with pale underwings outlined by a narrow dark border and a dark notch in the armpit. The adult has a whitish head with grayish cheeks that give it a “white-capped” appearance. The gray-green bill has a yellowish tip to both mandibles. Juveniles are grayer on the head with gray bills. The species breeds on islands off Tasmania and New Zealand but disperses widely across the southern Oceans between 15 and 60°S, where it is a frequently encountered pelagic seabird. Similar albatrosses have a dark-tipped (not pale-tipped) lower half to the bill, and Salvin’s Albatross has a pale gray head and Chatham Albatross a slaty-gray head, further differentiating them from White-capped Albatross. Juveniles of these three are very difficult to separate.

Large tanager with a hefty bill. Adult males are completely red; immature males are dull yellow-olive with blotchy patches of red. Females are variable in color, ranging from pale dull yellow to brighter orange. Can be confused with female Scarlet Tanager; Summer has a longer, paler bill and less contrast between wing and body color. Also compare with dustier-looking, stouter-billed Hepatic Tanager. Breeds in mature forests, favoring mixed deciduous and pine in the southeastern U.S. and riparian corridors in the western U.S. and northern Mexico. Extensive winter range from Mexico to Bolivia, where it can be found in any wooded area. Often gives a short, descending rattle “pit-a-tuck.”