Long-billed Spiderhunter

Beautiful small songbird with a shining white head, black “bib”, deep chestnut body, and silverish-blue bill. Similar to White-headed Munia, but much darker overall, with a contrasting dark throat and chest. Inhabits rice paddies, marshlands, and grasslands, where often in large flocks with other munias. Most common call a series of paired whistles.

The breeding male is black with a pale blue bill, brightly-colored shoulder epaulets (chestnut in northeast Africa, yellow elsewhere), and diagnostic white wing panels that are most obvious in flight. The distinctive display is a slow butterfly-like flapping. The non-breeding male is buffy and streaky, but retains the shoulder epaulets and wing panel. The female lacks the wing pattern and has a pale unstreaked belly. Pairs and flocks are resident with local movements in open savanna, brushy grassland, swamps, and cultivated areas.

Large elegant pigeon with dark olive-green wings and back. “Pink” on the upperparts is at most a faint blush and is often not noticeable. Similar Green Imperial-Pigeon is brighter green on the upperparts and lacks Pink-headed’s weakly contrasting pale gray “collar”. Typically an offshore species of forests on small islets, though can sometimes be found along the coastlines of larger islands. Listen for its song, a melancholy descending series of booming coos: “OO-OO-OOh-ooh-oo”.