Cinnamon-tailed Fantail

Noisy, conspicuous, and often a common scavenger in habitats ranging from towns and cities to open forest, farmland, and beaches; ecological counterpart to crows. Often in groups, locally of tens or even hundreds, feeding on the ground or tumbling and sailing with agile flight; often chases and mobs larger raptors. Plumage brownish overall, often with gingery tones, and with variable paler dappling above and fine barring below. Bold creamy white wing panels and tail base striking in flight.

Difficult to separate from Yellow-legged Gulls and Herring Gulls without a careful appraisal of plumage characters. Candidate birds may draw attention by slender-billed, long-legged, and slim appearance. Flattened crown, rather small dark eyes, and usually unstreaked head are also useful characters. Wingtip (primary) feathers in adults have long tongues of white that penetrate into the black tips. Juveniles have prominent pale underwings. Breeds and winters predominantly on inland water bodies with some movement toward coasts in winter.

A fairly large, colorful bird of upper montane forest. Plump with a rather square-shaped head. Male has a blue eye, black underparts and an indistinct crest on the forehead. Upperparts are bright yellow in the southeast, and bright scarlet in the rest of the range. Female is olive green with orange-brown wing and tail. Male is unmistakable. Female is similar to but larger than female Loria’s Satinbird and has a pale gray eye. Also similar to but smaller than the female MacGregor’s Bowerbird and more greenish than brown. Male gives a rasping growl and has audible wingbeats.