Collared Warbling Finch

A bright green insect hunter with a long bill and triangular starling-like wings. Adult has a bright blue throat, orange-brown crown and nape, and long trailing central tail feathers. Sexes are alike. Juveniles have a paler blue throat, no orange-brown coloration, and no long tail extensions. Often hunts from exposed perches such as telephone lines or snags, on which it rubs its venomous quarry so as to disarm it. Call is a bright, inflected “chileep.”

Relatively colorful, mid-sized, long-tailed cisticola. Note the gray-brown back with thick black streaks, dull rufous on the wing and cap, and pale underparts. Found in reedbeds, especially papyrus and phragmites. The distinctive song is a few hesitant “chyep” calls followed by a long, dry trill. Very similar to Luapula Cisticola, and best separated by song. Visually, Chirping Cisticola is slightly larger, the tail is browner, and the rufous crown and wing patch are duller.

Small and rotund with obvious teardrop-shaped plumes protruding from forehead. Looks gray and brown at a distance, with white streaks on the sides and a scaly belly. Males have black face and longer, more curled crest than females. Usually seen in flocks running on the ground in open, scrubby habitats. Listen for frequent, three-noted call, audible at long distances. Separated from similar Gambel’s Quail by range; also note California has scaly belly with rusty (not black) patch and duller brown crown and sides. Native to western North America including Baja California; well-established introduced populations in Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, and Hawaii.