Black-cheeked Mountain Tanager

Tiny resident of tall rainforest. Wary and can be difficult to see well; note distinctive sputtering alarm call, tiny size, plain face, and large white (male) or buffy (female) wing spots. Generally found in pairs near treefall gaps and other places with dense understory; does not follow mixed-species flocks. Forages in low vegetation, rarely venturing more than a meter or two above the ground. Song of male is somewhat similar to Common Scale-backed Antbird, but has thinner quality and does not rise in pitch.

Large songbird of New Guinea and Solomon Islands, also on Boigu Island in the northern Torres Strait. Adult glossy black with strong metallic green/blue sheen and bright red eye. Tail has blunt square tip. Juvenile brown above, pale below, with heavy short brown streaks. Compare Spangled Drongo, which has heavy, flared, forked tail, and Metallic Starling, which has long, tapered, pointed tail.

A dull, short-tailed brownish forest-floor skulker, cold above and warmer below. Has a very thin beak, and long legs and big feet that it lifts in a “goosestep” fashion. This taxonomic enigma is now considered an aberrant dwarf forest wagtail, although it looks more like a terrestrial warbler. Endemic to São Tomé, where it is scarce in interior forests up to 1540 meters of elevation, preferring margins of small rivers, often with logs and debris. Found singly or in pairs. Calls include a thin, high-pitched “seeeep” whistle.