Gray-capped Pygmy Woodpecker

Bright green, long-tailed parrot, with a gray hood and conspicuous black throat. The beak is red-orange in males, but all dark in duller females. Small groups inhabit upper levels of humid forest in the Wet Zone and drier, wooded areas outside of that, in both the lowlands and hills. Combination of gray hood and black throat differentiates this from all other long-tailed parrots on the island; female Plum-headed Parakeet also has a gray hood but lacks the black throat of Layard’s Parakeet. Gregarious and noisy birds, with raucous “ak-ak-ak-ak-ak” heard often.

Distinctive tern-like bird with long wings, a short tail, and a bizarre bill in which the upper mandible is shorter than the lower mandible. In slow flight, shows a very white underwing and a white stripe along the back of the upperwing. Feeds by skimming its knife-like lower mandible through the water and snapping up small fish that it makes contact with. Found very locally on sandbars in lakes and rivers. Call is a husky “chep.”

A small brown owl confined to New Britain with a dark brown head, prominent white eyebrows and throat patch, and orange-yellow eyes. Broad brown chest band contrasts with pale mottled whitish underparts. Upperparts and wings dark chocolate brown with scattered white markings. Occurs in forest and in modified patches and clearings, in the lowlands and foothills. Distinctive: the only small brown owl on New Britain. Song is a distinctive, incessant series of “whoo” notes, rising in volume toward the end.