Purple Grenadier

Typical white-eye; greenish above and grayish below with broad white spectacles around the eyes. Darker gray belly and more extensive yellow on the belly than in the marginally smaller Oriental White-eye. Inhabits foothill and montane forest edges, gardens, and secondary growth, occasionally around human habitation. Gregarious, often foraging in large flocks, both single-species and mixed. Moves through the upper levels of forest, though can descend into middle and lower levels in edge. Song consists of repetitive twittering; also gives whistles and buzzy notes while in flight and when foraging.

A small lemon-olive finch with a gray patch in front of the eye. Female is smaller, duller, and streakier than the male. Juvenile resembles female but is browner and streakier. An abundant endemic throughout Nightingale Island and small adjacent islands, preferring tussock grass. Male’s song is high-pitched and sharp, an often repeated “wheet-whuu”; female answers with a whistle. The much larger and rarer Wilkins’s Finch has a deep grosbeak-like bill and a slower song, and is more restricted to wooded parts of the island than Nightingale Island Finch.

Impressive dark falcon, with broad shoulders, feathered legs, and long, pointed wings. Favors open environments, where it is an aggressive aerial hunter, frequently observed in rapid pursuit of birds. Often confused with darker individuals of Brown Falcon, a species with larger, blocky head, unfeathered legs, less pointed wings, and more pronounced tear-drop mark below the eye.