Guadalcanal Hooded Whistler

Locally abundant coastal cormorant of Humboldt Current. The species name is linked to the famous guano islands of Peru. Can be seen as singles, but usually seen in flocks, sometimes many thousands feeding, nesting, and roosting in dense masses or commuting in endless streams. Associates readily with pelicans, boobies, other cormorants, and Inca Terns. Adult is handsome with a distinctive “dinner dress” pattern of white extending up into neck and a red patch around the eye. Immature has similar pattern, but is brownish above and the plumage is duller overall.

Conspicuous large white bird with a long, spoon-shaped bill, black facial skin, legs. Breeding adult develops long white plumes on the back of head. Often feeds in shallow wetlands, either singly or in small flocks. Submerges bill and makes a sweeping motion to feed.

A small drongo with a dull-black back and a relatively short, distinctively forked tail. The “white-bellied” form has an extensively white belly diffusely demarcated from the dark gray throat and breast. The “white-vented” from is restricted to Sri Lanka and is darker overall, with dark gray underparts and a white vent. The species is similar to juvenile Black and Ashy Drongos, which are larger and have smaller amounts of white, diffused with a dusky color or scaling, on the belly and vent. White-bellied is found in dry and open forests across the Indian subcontinent.