Blyth's Hawk-Eagle

Medium-sized hummingbird of oak and pine-oak woodlands and adjacent shrubby clearings; also local in lowland pine savannas. Sexes look alike and often look rather dull overall, despite the name. Note the whitish throat and breast offset by a dusky vest, and the dusky brownish rump and tail. Crown and sides of head are blue (rarely catching the light), with a white spot behind the eye and some red at base of bill.

A tiny, long-billed bird of forest understory. Brown above and white below with a black crescent across the chest. Note striking facial pattern with white eyebrow and black malar mark. General impression is wren-like with long bill, contrasting eyebrow, and tail usually held cocked. Difficult to see well, as it tends to remain in dense understory growth around treefalls and other gaps in tall rainforest, where it is locally distributed and never common. Usually seen alone or in pairs. Song is a long, descending whistle, repeated at roughly three-second intervals, very similar in tone and pace to second note of Tawny-crowned Greenlet’s song. Harsh scolding note is perhaps the best giveaway to this species’s presence. Generally unmistakable given a decent view; in silhouette could be confused with Long-billed Gnatwren but has much stronger face pattern and is usually confined to dense undergrowth rather than the vine tangles inhabited by Long-billed.

A reddish-brown owl with a large rounded head, pale whitish eyebrows, and no ear tufts. Upperparts spotted with black-tipped white spots. Legs unfeathered and whitish. Found in a wide range of forest, mostly in lowlands, frequently near villages. No other owls occur on Palau. Voice includes a long series of deep “whok” notes rising in intensity, finishing in a sharp “quirt-quirt” whistle.