Bougainville Hooded Whistler

A fairly small bird of lowland and foothill forest floor or dense undergrowth. Warm brown on the upperparts, crown, and sides, with fine buff streaks on the sides and blackish underparts heavily streaked white. Note the contrasting white throat, the black-and-white moustache stripes, and the white stripe from above the eye to the back of the head. Unmistakable in range. Voice includes a variety of medium-pitched whistles, including repeated piping, downslurred notes, plus complex jumbled songs and imitations of other bird species.

Beautiful and distinctive dark tern of the Humboldt Current. Found along rocky coasts and at harbors and piers where it is often confiding; less often found at sandy beaches and river mouths. Feeds over coastal and inshore waters, dipping to pick food from near surface rather than plunge-diving like typical terns. All plumages dark overall with narrow white trailing edge to wings. Adult has red bill and legs, yellow gape patch, and curling ‘Salvador Dali’ whisker. 1st-year browner overall with dark bill and legs, soon develops vestige of white whisker.

A medium-sized, black-bellied bustard with diagnostic white chevrons on a brown-and-black mottled back. The male has a brown-gray neck and slaty cap, and the female is plainer. The name is misleading, as the red crest is almost always hidden. It walks slowly and steadily in arid woodlands, where it is common but due to its camouflage often avoids detection. The song is a sequence of clicking “tic-tic” notes that are followed by a mournful piping “sweee-swee-sweee sweet” series that accelerates to a crescendo. The male indulges in an absurd display in which he flies nearly vertically into the sky and then folds his wings and somersaults down as if shot, only to unbelievably land on his feet. In flight the Red-crested Bustard’s all-black underwings differentiate it from Black-bellied Bustard, which has white windows in the underwing.