Great Myna

A small tanager that is rare and local in the Andes of Colombia. Beautiful male is patterned in electric cerulean and black with an especially prominent black mask and a staring yellow eye. Female is grayish brown above and dull buffy below with a darker mask and a yellowish eye. Note its rather stout bill for a dacnis. Pairs occur in montane forest and edges from around 1,300 to 2,200 m, where they follow mixed-species flocks or feed from fruiting trees.

Utterly unmistakable inhabitant of waterside and riverine lowland evergreen forests, mangroves, and plantations. Midnight black with long white slashes on each wing, wine-red underparts, and a black chinstrap. Bulbous bill is glowingly powder-blue with warm tinges of orange and greenish-yellow. During the breeding season, the pendulous nests of this species can be quite obvious, hanging over forested waterways. Voice is nasal and generally unpleasant-sounding, consisting of odd low mechanical rasps.

Attractive small parrot of southeastern Australia. Olive-green, with yellow belly and mostly dark blue wings. Face yellow between eye and bill, with small yellow triangle behind eyes and thin blue line between eyes. Feeds on the ground in open areas, including sporting grounds and farmland. Compare Rock Parrot (duller green, lacks the yellow on face, and only a thin blue edge to folded wing) and Elegant Parrot (yellower, no yellow patch behind eye). Call a very high, thin, chiming "zit zit."