South American Painted-Snipe

A large-headed songbird with a fairly indistinct eye ring. Warm brown with a gray head and belly, a black-bordered rufous crown, and a long but slender silver wing panel. Active and social; often found in constantly moving flocks with other species. Resides in middle- to high-altitude broadleaved forest and edges. Gives a halting, chattering trill.

This rare flycatcher is restricted to the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama from around 2,200–3,000 m. It is tawny-colored overall, paler yellow on the belly, with two brownish wingbars, an orange lower mandible, and a peaked crest. Very similar to Tufted Flycatcher, but larger and longer-billed. Perches conspicuously on exposed snags at the edge of montane forests. Listen for its piercing “pee-pit!” song and pip calls.

Glossy small black cuckoo with a forked tail. Juvenile has a galaxy-like smattering of white spots all over the body. Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo has a less prominently-forked tail; note less difference in length of outermost tail feathers. Adults may be confused with drongos, but are lighter-billed and smaller, with distinctly white-barred undertail. Widespread, found in forests and scrubby plains from lowlands up into foothills and mountainous areas, but much more often heard than seen, typically sitting still in the middle and upper levels of forest; song is an extremely loud ascending series of whistles. Lays its eggs in the nests of babblers, bulbuls, and shrikes.