Heard Island Shag

Large, dumpy, almost tailless terrestrial inhabitant of the Atlantic Forest, where it walks quietly through forests with an open understory. This tinamou has a gray-brown barred back and vent, pale gray on the belly with a prominent pale stripe on the side of the neck. Very secretive, best identified by song, a series of “frru” whistles with long silences between them.

Dusty-brown bird with long tail, found in shrubby deserts and grasslands. Tail dark with small white corners; undertail coverts warmer orangey. Eye yellow. Very similar to Curve-billed Thrasher. Subtle differences include smaller, more triangular-shaped markings on breast, and shorter, straighter bill. Shy; often hard to spot on the ground but sometimes perches conspicuously when singing. Ages and sexes similar; juveniles show faint buffy wingbars. Listen for jumbled, rambling song.

A fruit-loving inhabitant of woodlands and gardens. Adult is yellow (often tinged green or orange), sports a black beard, and has very large white wing patches covering half of the otherwise black wing. Immatures look similar, but they have two broad white wingbars instead of a white patch. Immature male Orchard Oriole looks somewhat similar, but it is smaller and lacks the bold white wing markings seen on Jamaican Orioles. Songs include a rapid series of rich, whistled, and mostly down-slurred phrases and “cheat-you, cheat-you, cheat-you, cheat-you, cheat.”