Masked Duck

A bulbul-sized olive-brown bird that sports a diagnostic all-red bill and a red eye surrounded by a fleshy yellow wattle. The juvenile lacks the bright bill and eye coloration. Small groups occur in savanna and farmland, where they require large wild ungulates and domestic stock to forage on; they clamber agilely over host mammals, gleaning ticks, mites, and other ectoparasites, and occasionally drinking host blood. As they fly between large mammals, they give a distinctive “tsik-tsik” call. The similar Yellow-billed Oxpecker differs from Red-billed Oxpecker by having a yellow bill base and pale rump and lacking an eye-wattle.

Tiny, rare, skulking rail-like bird that is unlikely to be seen unless you’re expressly looking for it at a handful of known sites. Male has rich rufous and olive-green color, while female is a subdued dark brown. Found in a few wetlands at middle and high elevations in eastern Madagascar, usually adjacent to rainforest. Call is an odd and earthy series of “tduk” calls, sometimes given singly and sometimes in triplets. Longer-billed than the much more common Madagascar Flufftail, and both sexes of Slender-billed Flufftail have duller coloration.

A small but strong-billed cisticola that is rich gray-brown on the back and pale below. The back is plain in breeding plumage and heavily streaked in the non-breeding season. Note the black band and pale tips across the end of the tail. Found locally in savanna and dry woodland. Very similar to Dorst’s Cisticola, and best distinguished by song, but has a brighter rufous cap and whiter underparts. Also similar to Foxy and Rufous Cisticolas, but larger, with a rufous cap that contrasts with the gray-brown back. Perches up to sing a brief squeaky warbled phrase, thin and high-pitched.