Nahan's Partridge

A rotund, short-legged ground-dwelling dove that usually runs rather than flies when startled. Male has a distinctive dark purple back, wings, and belly, a whitish chest crescent, and a light gray chest and head. Females usually resemble males, though some have purple-brown bodies with a very ruddy chest and head. Inhabits most forest habitats, including rainforest and bamboo thickets. Very shy. Sometimes heard giving a series of low-pitched, typical dove-like hooting notes.

A graceful aerial feeder found over a wide variety of open habitats, especially near water, including marshes and towns. Often seen on exposed perches including power and telephone lines in villages. Commonly found in flocks of up to twenty birds, sometimes mixing with other swallows and martins. Note the male’s diagnostic glossy purple-blue plumage and snow-white belly. Females and immatures are similarly patterned, but have brown mixed with the blue and are probably not safely separable from Cuban Martin. Female and immature Purple Martins are very similar, but they often have a scaly breast and finely streaked belly, with less contrast between belly and chest. Notably, Cuban and Purple Martins are not present in this species’ range from March to September. Calls include a harsh “churr,” a buzzy “zwick-zwick,” and a musical buzzy burbling.

Dull and largely unmarked spiderhunter. Brownish olive above with a yellow belly, faint yellow crescents around the eye, and faint speckling on the crown. Gives insistently harsh, nasal chattering calls that seem disproportionate for its small size. Forages in the middle levels of foothill and lowland rainforests, gleaning insects and sipping nectar from flowers.