Kretschmer's Longbill

Largest kingfisher in Americas with exceptionally enormous bill and raucous calls. Blue-gray with shaggy crest, white collar, and rufous belly. Male and female similar, but note different breast pattern: entirely rufous on male, while female has blue-gray band bordered by white. Often conspicuous, searching shallow water for fish from a prominent perch and chattering noisily when disturbed. Singles or pairs are also often observed flying high overhead and giving loud "keck" calls. Nests in burrows excavated in banks, generally along watercourses.

A retiring warbler of densely vegetated forest edges, lightly wooded slopes, and clearings in foothill to montane regions; favors areas with thick ground vegetation. Dull and unremarkable to look at; plain brown above and paler brown below, with a white throat and eyebrow. More contrastingly marked than Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler; smaller and stouter than Manchurian and Japanese Bush Warblers. Song is what sets it apart: a sharp note followed by a quick bout of chattering and squeaking.

A large, little-known bird of lowland forest on Tagula Island where the only butcherbird. Mainly black plumage with white mark at the shoulder, above and below the base, and also at the tip of the tail. Long, silvery bill with black tip. Trumpet Manucode is a similar size and co-occurs, but Tagula Butcherbird has obvious white markings. Typical butcherbird song of low warbles mixed with bell-like notes and loud “chok!” notes.