White-browed Tit

Chunky, generally uncommon, rather grouselike bird of the high Andes. Found in pairs or small groups on bogs, stony slopes, and in bleak moorland of puna and páramo zones. Lacey “chainmail” pattern to upperparts is beautifully cryptic, and birds sometimes freeze when alarmed making them more difficult to see. No similar species in range; note the short stout bill and rusty underparts. Flight strong and fast, and flushes with loud shrieking choruses.

This typical “Scytalopus” tapaculo is found only in Colombia’s western Andes. Plumage is gray with a brown tinge to the rump and faint, rusty barring on the lower underparts. Similar to Nariño Tapaculo, Spillmann’s Tapaculo, and Choco Tapaculo, and is best identified by its distinctive voice. Song is a long, pulsating series of frog-like calls that gradually increases in volume and pitch. Inhabits understory of cloud forest and is normally quite hard to see.

A very small shorebird of both inland and coastal wetlands and estuaries. Breeding adult has vivid orange head bordered by dark stippling (no dark markings internal to the orange, unlike Little Stint) and bright orange and gold tones in upperwing coverts. Nonbreeding adult gray above, pale below; juvenile similar but richer gray-brown above with neat pale feather edges in upperparts. Flight call a high-pitched, raspy “krreeet.”