Green-headed Tanager

A fantastic little bird that is nearly endemic to northwestern Ecuador, just barely reaching southwestern Colombia. Male’s blue, red, and yellow plumage and brilliant yellow eye are stunning in good light. Female has a similar overall pattern, but blue is replaced with brown. Despite her subdued colors, nothing similar occurs in range. Usually encountered in pairs, often with mixed-species canopy flocks.

Male is slaty-blue with a white eyebrow, dark face, and orange underparts. Female is matte brown with buffy underparts; females in the Chin Hills have a slate-gray back. Furtive and skulky; male sings from deep cover, giving a series of sharp whistles devolving into a burst of trilling and chattering notes. Prefers dense, damp undergrowth in wet forests, often in proximity to streams and gullies.

Chunky, mid-sized robin-like bird. Males are pale gray and orange, while females are gray-brown. Madagascar endemic that is found in coastal spiny forest and scrub in the southwest. Perches up conspicuously. Song is a variable mix of thin whistles and raspy notes. Paler than Forest Rock-Thrush, with little or no overlap in range. Female similar to female Madagascar Magpie-Robin, but smaller and grayer, without white patch in the wing.