Paddyfield Warbler
Acrocephalus agricola
Warm brown above and pale below; strong dark eyestripe contrasts with white eyebrow. Smallish reed warbler with long and strongly rounded tail, short bill with dark tip, and short primary projection. Difficult to separate visually from other small Acrocephalus warblers, especially Blunt-winged Warbler; note Paddyfield’s more prominent pale eyebrow which strengthens behind the eye, as well as longer-winged appearance. Also compare with Iduna warblers. Breeds in extensive reed beds; in nonbreeding season found in marshes, but also more scrubby areas. Distinctive, melodious song.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Acrocephalus agricola
- Authority
- (Jerdon, 1845)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Acrocephalidae
- Genus
- Acrocephalus
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- PAL : c
- Non-breeding range
- s Asia to Burma
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Rusty Blackbird
Euphagus carolinus
Rusty edges to feathers and pale eyebrow in winter contrast with blackish feather bases. Breeding males are glossy black. Shorter tail than Common Grackle. Thinner bill than Red-winged Blackbird. Found in wooded swamps. Often in flocks; frequently mixes with Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackle in winter. Look for flocks perched at tops of trees bordering marshes and listen for their calls to help pick them out from large flocks of blackbirds.
Ornate Melidectes
Melidectes torquatus
A common and fairly large honeyeater of lower and mid-montane forest and clearings. Distinctively patterned with a black back scaled white, white belly with black scalloped flanks, black breast band, black head with large-orange yellow eye wattle, black chin and a small red mark in the base of the bill. Other melidectes co-occur but are larger and none have the white belly and breastband. Call, a loud, hollow “chok!” often followed by a slightly raspy, hollow warble.
Long-wattled Umbrellabird
Cephalopterus penduliger
Spectacular crow-like bird with a bushy crest. Male has a thick feathered wattle dangling from his throat that can be extended to an astonishing length while displaying. It inhabits tall, lush, and undisturbed rainforest in western Ecuador and western Colombia. Quite scarce, and usually encountered at fruiting trees or at known display sites, where several males may congregate, extending their wattles and giving very low-pitched, airy hoots.
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