Turkestan Ground-Jay

Podoces panderi

Odd dove-gray corvid with a slightly decurved bill. Note black lores, tail, and chest. Delicate buffy-pinkish wash on the chest visible in good light. Inhabits sandy deserts with scattered shrubs. Often perches out in the open, next to roads, and forages on the ground in small flocks or pairs. Gives a bubbling ‘bl’lip, bl’lip’, often in the early morning.

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Podoces panderi
Authority
Fischer von Waldheim, 1821
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Corvidae
Genus
Podoces

Range and habitat

Migration
Resident species

Conservation

Population trend
declining

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

Rufous-fronted Antthrush

Rufous-fronted Antthrush

Formicarius rufifrons

Range-restricted antthrush of river’s-edge habitats and bamboo. Grayish brown, with an orange forehead. Found in successional forest with dense understory, including areas with bamboo or dense heliconia thickets. Listen for its song, a long, rising-falling series of musical whistles. Voice is similar to the slower song of Buff-throated Woodcreeper, but ascends faster in the middle of the song.

Buru Bush Warbler

Buru Bush Warbler

Locustella disturbans

A sparrow-sized dark warbler with an often scruffy-looking, graduated tail. Has dark chestnut-brown upperparts, a whitish eyebrow, a distinct white throat, and dull grayish underparts. Formerly grouped with Buru Bush Warbler and Seram Bush Warbler under the name “Chestnut-backed Bush Warbler.” A secretive inhabitant of montane and foothill forest, often creeping around on or near the ground. Darker above and dingier below than Gray’s and Middendorff's Grasshopper-Warblers, and also has a clean-cut white throat; almost identical to Sulawesi and Seram Bush Warblers, but ranges do not overlap. Calls include a sharp metallic “chit” and a drawn-out, wavering buzzy note, “tzeeoooreee.” There is some variation in songs, which usually comprise three high-pitched buzzing notes, “tzeeee-tzeee-tzeee,” higher-pitched on the final note. Song includes a high, liquid-sounding “tzi-tzee”, as well as a longer, more repetitive “tzi-tzee, tzi-tzee, tzi-tzee.”

Flying Steamer-Duck

Flying Steamer-Duck

Tachyeres patachonicus

A large, heavily built duck that is fairly common along rocky seacoasts and on lakes near the coast; also local and uncommon on larger lakes farther inland. Despite the name, rarely seen in flight; more often seen thrashing through the water like an old paddle steamer boat, hence the name. Male’s bill is mostly orange, while the female’s bill is mostly greenish. Plumage of both sexes is duller gray or brownish gray compared to Flightless Steamer-Duck; the two species sometimes occur together, but Flightless tends to be warier.

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