Red-mantled Rosefinch

This bizarre and cumbersome-looking relative of the snipes is fairly common but rarely seen; active mainly at dusk and dawn. Favors damp leafy ground in forest and woodland, but comes out at night to feed in damp pastures. When flushed, flies off quickly and usually silently from close range, a little like a small grouse. Note fat body and long bill; plumage less boldly striped than smaller and slimmer snipes. At dusk in spring, males do flight patrols of their territory and can be seen as silhouettes against the evening sky, giving a distinctive but odd-sounding call.

Attractive, perky, long-tailed warbler widespread in foothills and highlands, locally in lowlands. Favors brushy and weedy areas adjacent to woodland and scrub. Usually in pairs or small groups which hop around low in brush with tails cocked. Note white eyebrow, rusty cap, and yellow bib. Birds in southeast Mexico and Belize are extensively yellow below. Listen for its buzzy trills and chips, usually given in a multi-parted series. Once considered conspecific with Chestnut-capped Warbler.

Handsome thickset bunting restricted to a small part of the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan plateau where it inhabits scrubby slopes above the timberline. Unmistakable in its range; no other bunting in the area combines its size, brick-orange back, and gray belly. Male has a striking black-and-white head pattern while female is gray-headed with weak streaking. Song is an unmusical and unremarkable series of high, sharp “pi-pi-pipipew” notes.