Common Buzzard
Buteo buteo
Commonest large hawk in many areas, often seen soaring. Favors woodland and forest edge, farmland with hedges; locally in towns with larger trees and wooded parks. Also hunts over open country, especially moorland and rough grassland. Mainly seen as singles or pairs, circling over fields and woodlands with wings slightly raised. Rather stocky hawk with broad wings and fairly short, square-tipped tail (rounded when spread). Plumage variable but typically has paler breast band, fine dark tail barring (broad dark tail tip on adult).
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Buteo buteo
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Buteo
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds

Swierstra's Spurfowl
Pternistis swierstrai
Rare and unusual francolin that is endemic to Angola. Note the red bill and legs, mostly white face, black breast band, and black-striped white underparts. Found very locally in montane forest and along forest edge, often in rocky and grassy areas. Shy and elusive. The common vocalization is a series of rough “kurr-kraak” calls that become louder and more emphatic, then fade away. Distinguished from other francolins in its range by the bold white face and black breast band.

Ocellated Woodcreeper
Xiphorhynchus ocellatus
A medium-sized woodcreeper, found primarily in western Amazonia, south of the Amazon river. Lacks any truly distinctive visual features. Shows variable buffy streaking on head, back, and breast, and a scaly buffy throat. Bill is rather straight and typically dark grayish or silvery. Most easily identified by voice, a descending series of rather nasal notes, sometimes with a stuttered pattern. Typically seen singly or in pairs, often accompanying mixed-species flocks in the understory or mid-levels. Occurs in the lowlands and into the foothills of the Andes, usually in mature forest.

Black Grasswren
Amytornis housei
Small chestnut-and-black bird with a long tail, found in areas with large rocky sandstone boulders and dense spinifex grass of the northwestern Kimberley region of Western Australia, with most sightings from the Mitchell Plateau. Rich chestnut-brown above, black below, the head and breast liberally streaked with white.
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