Ornate Pitta

A medium-sized bird of the forest floor from the lowlands to low elevations in the mountains in northeastern Luzon. Fairly stout, with a pale lower bill, long legs, and large feet. Pale below, with a grayish, faintly scaled chest and brown under the base of the tail. Note rufous face and forehead with pale bare skin in front of the eye, brown upperparts with two dotted white wingbars, and chestnut flight feathers. Note the white throat with black speckling below and a thin black moustache stripe. Unmistakable. Song consists of a very high-pitched “tseeee-sip tsee-wee!”

Small, compact grebe with thin pointed bill. Breeding adults mostly black with chestnut flanks; look for wispy golden plumes on cheek and peaked head shape. In winter, grayish overall with a dark cap blending into the dark cheek, and a smudgy dark neck. Red eye visible at close range. Breeds on marshy ponds and lakes; during migration and winter, often seen on large lakes, bays, and open ocean. Compare with Horned Grebe, especially in winter. Eared is thinner-necked and smaller-headed, with more peaked crown, darker cheek, and no pale tip on bill.

A small, fork-tailed, sooty-brown swallow with different plumages for the sexes: distinctive male has a pure white head and narrow black eye stripe; female has a mostly ashy head with white throat. Immature lacks white on the head. Pairs use clearings and edges of evergreen forest, open woodland, and cultivation. Resident in East Africa, but an intra-African breeding migrant in Zambia and Malawi between October and May. Superficially more similar to swifts than other swallows. Note the differences in flight style: flightier with deep wing beats and rapid changes of direction, as opposed to the more stiff-winged flight of swifts.