Fulmar Prion

Small bright green parakeet, with striking white-and-yellow pattern on wings, visible in flight. Long, pointed tail. Bill and legs dull pinkish. White eyering. Native to South America; established populations exist in southern Florida and southern California. Usually found in small flocks in wooded or suburban areas. Listen for harsh, high-pitched calls.

A small, compact finch-like sociable lark that is nomadic, and often irrupts in large numbers after good rains. The sexes differ in plumage: the distinctive male is mostly black, including under the wings, with chestnut-sprinkled upperparts; the female is reddish-brown above and streaked underneath. Small to medium-sized flocks (often mixed with Gray-backed Sparrow-Lark) can appear in grassy shrubland in the Karoo and Kalahari, where dark males are conspicuous when they fly up on broad wings and flap slowly in the fashion of a butterfly. They drop to the ground and land on bare patches, where they shuffle along foraging for seeds and insects. The female Black-eared Sparrow-Lark is told apart from other female sparrow-larks by its all-dark underwings in flight and the lack of a black belly patch.

One of the most common and widespread warblers; often the core member of mixed warbler flocks during migration, especially early in spring and late in fall. Two main populations: “Audubon’s” breeds mainly in the mountains of the western U.S. and into British Columbia; “Myrtle” breeds from the eastern U.S. across Canada to Alaska. All plumages show a bright yellow rump and yellow on the sides. Most “Audubon’s” have a yellow throat, but dull immature females can be off-white. “Myrtle” Warblers have a white throat that wraps around below the cheek. Both subspecies breed in coniferous or mixed forests, often near clearings or edges. In migration and winter, found in any woodland or open shrubby area, including coastal dunes, fields, parks, and residential areas. Often sallies out from a conspicuous perch to snatch insects. Also eats berries in the winter. Calls frequently: a flat “check” (Myrtle) or rising “chit” (Audubon’s). Another distinctive sedentary population, surely a separate species, occurs very locally in the highlands of Guatemala: Goldman’s Warbler. Males are strikingly black overall, and show a mostly yellow throat with white corners.