Striped Laughingthrush

A large-bodied, small-headed bird of odd proportions. Plumage is mostly dark, with dark legs and a dark head, but in good light shows a yellowish bill and reddish bare skin on the forehead with a very short light gray crest. Can be found in a variety of habitats, but prefers tall forest with an open understory. Often tame and approachable around settlements. Separable in the field from New Guinea Scrubfowl by much plainer dark plumage, smaller crest, and less extensive red on the head. Very vocal and loud, especially in the morning and evening, giving strange warbling catlike cries, “ME-ow, meow,” with the first note being higher pitched than the rest.

Very similar to Common Chiffchaff, but distinctly darker brown, and lacks any green or yellow tones including uppertail coverts and fringes to wing feathers. Note the brownish wash to underparts, especially the flanks, the rather contrasting whitish throat, and white eyebrow. Bill and legs distinctly black. Short primary projection. Breeds in forested mountains, valleys, and foothills, including low-stature mixed forest; winters in lower elevation scrub, including acacia and tamarisks. Call similar to Siberian Chiffchaff: a high-pitched, slightly downslurred "Piiu." Song similar to Common Chiffchaff but faster and less “organized.”

A small green songbird with a black forehead, a yellow throat, and white underparts except for the base of the undertail, which is also yellow. Note the indistinct, intermittent white eye-ring. Active pairs or groups inhabit scrub and mangroves in the lowlands. Confined to the Togian Islands, where it is the only known white-eye. Song is a rapid, high-pitched warble: “wisisititititiwi.”