Variable Limestone Babbler

Graceful medium-sized rosefinch of the Himalayas. Male is bright raspberry pink with a clean “browed” facial pattern and faint streaking on the back. Female is brown with streaked buffy underparts, broad white eyebrows, and lightly streaked pale cheeks and throat. Favors subalpine forest edge and grassy hillsides with scrubby cover in the breeding season; descends in the winter, using similar habitat in the foothills. Gives a loud, insistent “teeLEE!”

Rather plain medium-sized warbler: warm brown above with narrow pale spectacles, pale buffy below. Can be very difficult to separate from other reed warbler species. Most populations breed in reed or sedge beds, both pure and mixed with bushes, often wandering to adjacent scrub and thickets. “Mangrove” Reed Warbler is a resident in mangroves along the Red Sea. Non-breeding migratory birds may wind up in a wide range of habitats, from marshes to mangroves, to acacia scrub and cultivation. Often heard but can be hard to see: prolonged song much like Sedge Warbler but more even-paced and melodic, without rough and jerky phrases. Calls include a low “chuk” and rattled “chrrt.”

Small, with a long, often fanned tail. Mostly pale orange-red with a gleaming white throat and a black chest with gray sides. Note the small black eye mask. Mostly resident in forest, but sometimes forages in open scrub. Common vocalization is a soft whistle or raspy “me-EE-ow.”