Waller's Starling

Common raptor in open spaces in the high Andes and southern South America. Large, relatively broad-winged, and short-tailed raptor. As the name suggests, plumage is quite variable. Adults range from clean white to dark gray and rufous below with a gray or rufous back. Always look for the white tail with a black band near the tip. Juveniles are more confusing, usually dark brown above and buffy below with a variable amount of dark streaking below. Juveniles can also be all dark brown (but this morph is rare). Compare with Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, which is larger and broader-winged, with young birds usually darker than most Variable Hawks. Occurs from sea level up to over 4,500 m in the Andes, typically in open agricultural land, desert, or paramo, but also ranging over wooded areas.

Tiny, active songbird with distinctive black-and-white head pattern. Olive above, white below, with yellow wash on sides and rump and white wingbars; adult male’s vivid red-orange crest especially visible when raised. Inhabits montane coniferous forests and more open, scrubby areas with stunted bushes and evergreen growth. Feeds restlessly on small branches, frequently both gleaning and hovering. Song a somewhat strident series of high-pitched thin “tsi” notes; calls similar to song elements.

A large, elusive cuckoo of lowland woodlands; plumages of both adults and juveniles mimic plumages of sparrowhawks. Adult gray above and pale below, with light orange suffusion on breast and sides; strikingly similar in plumage to Japanese and Chinese sparrowhawks, but has a much thinner bill (bicolored in adults) and a more lithe and smaller-headed profile. Juvenile brown above and white below, with heavily streaked underparts. Song a feverish, rapidly accelerating "chu-witchy-chu-witchy!”