Cordoba Cinclodes

A rather dull-plumaged songbird of fields, grasslands, forest edges, and farmland, mostly at moderate and high elevations. Often sparsely distributed and difficult to find. Gray-brown above with a pale belly, pale eyebrow, and blackish streaking on head and wings. Typically found singly or in pairs, clambering about in grasses and shrubbery. Often sings from an exposed perch, giving a loud but dry, rolling series of notes, faster than the song of Himalayan Prinia. Visually very similar to Himalayan Prinia, but usually separated by range. In the area of overlap, female and non-breeding male Striped Prinias show stronger streaking on the back and a brighter rufous panel in the wings. Breeding males are distinguished by their paler faces with an obvious eye-stripe.

Deep purplish-red broadbill with bold yellow patches on the wings and tail. Broad-based bill and irises are bright blue. Female is slightly duller than the male, and lacks a black line across the chest. Favors riparian and wet forests from the lowlands up into montane areas, and will visit edges, gardens, and parks. Forages in the canopy, often flying from a perch to do so. More vocal than Black-and-yellow Broadbill, giving long, drawn-out whistles and buzzing trills.

Small, sluggish cuckoo, more often heard than seen; listen for the male’s explosive descending trills and a loud but unremarkable “chom-wit!”, often given in flight. Adult male glossy purple with white-barred belly. Female greenish-brown above with curvier, paler barring extending up to the face; juvenile similar but with stronger rufous tones to the wings and orangish crown. Female and juvenile similar to female Asian Emerald Cuckoo or Little Bronze Cuckoo; look for combination of orange bill and patchy iridescent green instead of the Emerald’s unbroken sheen or Little Bronze’s dark bill and duller sheen.