Hunter's Sunbird
Chalcomitra hunteri
A chunky, large-billed sunbird of dry country. In poor light, males look black with a red breast. Good light reveals green whiskers and forehead and a purple shoulder and rump. Females are brown on the back with dark mottling below. Found in dry thorn savanna. Very similar to Scarlet-chested Sunbird, though generally found in drier habitat. Males are separated by their purple shoulder and rump and by the lack of blue barring within the red breast patch. Females are tricky, but average paler, especially on the underparts. The most common call is a deep “chyup,” and the song is a typical sunbird jumble.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Chalcomitra hunteri
- Authority
- (Shelley, 1889)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Nectariniidae
- Genus
- Chalcomitra
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
White-striped Woodcreeper
Lepidocolaptes leucogaster
Attractive and fairly active, medium-sized woodcreeper of pine and pine-oak woodland in highlands. Usually found in ones or twos, often traveling with mixed-species feeding flocks of tanagers, orioles, warblers, and others. Creeps up trunks and smaller branches, often poking into epiphytes. Note the slender, slightly curved bill and bold whitish striping on head and underparts. Song is a pleasant, chipping, descending trill, mainly given in early morning.
Blackish Oystercatcher
Haematopus ater
Distinctive large chunky shorebird of rocky coasts, adjacent sandy beaches and river mouths. The only all-dark oystercatcher in South America, readily identified by wholly dark plumage, long orange-red bill, thick pinkish legs. Found as singles and pairs, less often small flocks (mainly when roosting), and associates readily with Magellanic and especially American Oystercatchers. Loud piping whistles sound similar to American Oystercatcher.
Chinese Pond-Heron
Ardeola bacchus
Often mistaken for an egret in flight due to its all-white wings, but the dark head separates it from any egret. This medium-sized heron is found across many different marshy habitats. Breeding adults have a chestnut head, neck, and breast, and a veil of bluish-black plumes over the white wings. Nonbreeding adults and juveniles are brown all over save for the white wings. In areas where the ranges of multiple pond-heron species overlap, nonbreeders and juveniles are best left unidentified.
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