Black-vented Shearwater
Puffinus opisthomelas
Small brown-and-white shearwater with messy appearance. Especially note smudgy face and neck. Found in warmer ocean waters off the west coast of North America, often close to land. Found singly or in small flocks, sometimes with other shearwaters. Most similar to Manx Shearwater but ranges do not usually overlap; also look for smudgier head, longer bill, and darker undertail coverts on Black-vented. Also compare with much larger Pink-footed Shearwater.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Puffinus opisthomelas
- Authority
- Coues, 1864
- Order
- Procellariiformes
- Family
- Procellariidae
- Genus
- Puffinus
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- PO : I. San Martin (w of nw Baja), Guadalupe, San Benito, Cedros, and Is. Natividad (w of c Baja California), and I. Rasa (n Gulf of California; nw Mexico)
- Non-breeding range
- to c California inshore waters, Gulf of California and to inshore waters of c Mexico
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds

Nashville Warbler
Leiothlypis ruficapilla
Small warbler with sharply pointed bill. Look for gray head, white eyering, yellow underparts (including throat), and olive upperparts. Sometimes pumps tail. Two disjunct breeding populations are very similar in appearance. Breeds in coniferous or mixed forests, often near clearings, second-growth, or bogs. In migration and winter, tends to be found in patchy woodland or brushy areas, including field edges and thickets. Winters primarily in Mexico. Listen for its loud chipping song, broken into two parts. Compare dull immature Nashville with Virginia’s Warbler; Nashvilles always have greenish wings. Also sometimes mistaken for larger gray-headed warblers like Mourning or Connecticut, but Nashville is much smaller, shorter-tailed, and sharper-billed.

Flores Scops-Owl
Otus alfredi
A small owl with yellow eyes, a pale bill, an unmarked rufous face and ear tufts, a pale forehead, mainly rufous upperparts with prominent white spots in the wings, and a faintly-scaled pale grayish underside. Juvenile is largely pale rufous, with little barring but strong tail bands. Inhabits montane forest on Flores. Distinguished from larger Wallace’s and Moluccan Scops-Owls by rufous appearance, pale bill, lack of prominent dark facial border, and absence of bold streaking on underparts. Song is a distinctive crake-like, stuttering “da-da-da-da-da-da-da,” wavering in pitch.

Northern Gray-headed Sparrow
Passer griseus
Plain sparrow with a gray head and underparts, and brown back, wings, and tail. Found in a variety of open habitats, mostly in association with human settlements. The call is a simple “cheep” that is frequently repeated. Very similar to Southern Gray-headed, Swahili, and Parrot-billed Sparrows. Slightly larger and bigger-billed than Southern Gray-headed Sparrow, with a smaller pale shoulder patch. Paler underparts than Swahili Sparrow. Smaller bill and paler underparts than Parrot-billed Sparrow.
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