Gray-chinned Sunbird

Tiny, rare, skulking rail-like bird that is unlikely to be seen unless you’re expressly looking for it at a handful of known sites. Male has rich rufous and olive-green color, while female is a subdued dark brown. Found in a few wetlands at middle and high elevations in eastern Madagascar, usually adjacent to rainforest. Call is an odd and earthy series of “tduk” calls, sometimes given singly and sometimes in triplets. Longer-billed than the much more common Madagascar Flufftail, and both sexes of Slender-billed Flufftail have duller coloration.

Large finchlike bird with a strong bill with obviously curved mandibles. Males have a distinctive face pattern—a gray head with a broken pale eyebrow, and a prominent pale mustache and throat. Olive-brown above and gray below with two pale wingbars. Females have no facial marks and are olive-brown overall with two indistinct cinnamon wingbars. Found at the forest edge and in second growth where it is largely dependent on bamboo patches.

A fat and rather “neckless” finch (actually a tanager) of bogs or adjacent rocky slopes in the high Andes. Found in pairs or small groups, feeding on the ground. Note the overall blue-gray plumage with a large white crescent under the eyes; white wing patch can be hidden at rest but shows as white flash in flight. Compare with smaller White-throated Sierra Finch.