Spot-billed Ground-Tyrant

Muscisaxicola maculirostris

Fairly small and drab terrestrial flycatcher of open rocky and stony slopes and valleys, and adjacent agricultural terraces in the Andes; also locally in desert lowlands mainly in winter. Virtual absence of field marks is a field mark: plumage unrelieved by strong contrast or color. Best told from other ground-tyrants by small size, faint dusky breast streaking, relatively short wings, and much stronger song. Also note yellow base of bill that is visible at close range.

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Muscisaxicola maculirostris
Authority
d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Tyrannidae
Genus
Muscisaxicola

Range and habitat

Migration
Complete migrants

Conservation

Population trend
stable

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

Scaly-sided Merganser

Scaly-sided Merganser

Mergus squamatus

Sleek, secretive diving duck with a bright orange-red bill and a long, shaggy crest. Relatively rare East Asian endemic. Male has a glossy green head and a black-and-white back. Female has a rusty brown head and gray back. Both sexes have prominent dark-edged white “scales” on the sides that distinguish them from other merganser species. Breeds in cavities along forested montane rivers and winters on fast-flowing rivers and lakes.

Black Sunbird

Black Sunbird

Leptocoma aspasia

A small songbird with a long downcurved bill. Male is blackish with iridescent areas: crown glossed greenish or blue, and shoulders, rump, and tail glossed with blue. Throat iridescent reddish-purple in most of range, but blueish in the north Moluccas and Kai islands. Female is nondescript, with a grayish head, white throat, olive upperparts, and yellowish underparts over much of range. In the south Moluccas and Aru islands, underparts are grayish. Juvenile resembles female, but yellower on throat. Inhabits forest edge, open forest, gardens, and scrub in lowlands and hills. Male can be separated from dark-bellied forms of male Olive-backed Sunbird by glossy, iridescent crown and black back. Females differ from Olive-backed Sunbird by absence of eyebrow, absence of white tail tip, white throat, grayish head, and duller yellow underparts. Females lack eye-ring, unlike larger female Brown-throated Sunbird, and are less uniform underneath than female Elegant Sunbird.

Miombo Rock-Thrush

Miombo Rock-Thrush

Monticola angolensis

Attractive rock-thrush in which males and females are strikingly different. Males have a gray head and back and rufous underparts, while females have a brown, heavily scalloped head and back and mostly white underparts. Found very locally in miombo broadleaf woodland. The song consists of musical, vibrating whistles. Similar to migratory Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush, but male lacks white back and female has little or no scalloping below.

Start Your Bird Watching Journey

Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.