Green-backed Eremomela

A medium-sized owl with a large, powerful beak and talons. Distinctive and unmistakable. Bushy white crescents begin as eyebrows and run down along the edges of the bill to flare out as mustaches. Note the large orange eyes. Otherwise mostly rufous, blotched and streaked with black. Prefers primary or well-developed secondary forest up to 800 meters of elevation. Vocally poorly known, but a single drawn-out mournful note has been reported.

Gregarious long-tailed inhabitant of grassy and scrubby areas, as well as bamboo stands and secondary growth, in mountains and foothills. Very similar in appearance to Vinous-throated Parrotbill (range overlap minimal) but with a brighter orange head, stronger and more noticeable throat streaking, and no warm orange or reddish tones in the wings. Moves about noisily through dense vegetation, twittering and chattering constantly.

Fairly large, rather pale grayish nightjar of scrubby woodlands, thorn forests, edges and adjacent clearings in western Mexico. Hunts mainly from perches at forest edge and from the ground. Cryptic plumage similar to other nightjars; both sexes have buffy collar on the back of the neck. Male has white tail corners. Female has narrow, pale buffy tail corners. Best detected and identified by voice: striking song is a rapid, accelerating series of hollow clucks ending with an emphatic “chee-aa.”