Pale-crowned Cisticola

A relatively small diving duck with a tall peaked crown. Males are handsome with glossy black head and back, clean gray sides, and a brighter white spur on the side. Females are grayish-brown, often with a paler patch at the base of the bill and a white eyering. Both sexes have a white band near the tip of gray bill. Also note gray, not white, wingstripe in flight. Usually favors small bodies of water, such as beaver ponds and cattail marshes, but also occurs on larger lakes, rivers, and bays. Can be found in mixed flocks with other diving ducks, although usually in smaller numbers than scaup. Compare with both species of scaup and Redhead (especially females).

A small, short-tailed weaver with a mottled back and a yellow or reddish bill, eye-ring, and legs. When breeding, the male develops a variable black face mask with a surrounding wash that can be rosy, buff, or cinnamon, although the face can also be whitish. Large flocks are resident and nomadic in arid savanna, grassland, and cultivated areas. In wetter years this species forms enormous flocks numbering tens of thousands, earning it the name “feathered locust.” Non-breeding Red-headed Weaver is superficially similar, but it is much larger than Red-billed Quelea, and it is mostly solitary in woodland and has an unstreaked back.

A small, slow-moving species that prefers dry brush and scrublands where it typically feeds low and sometimes even on the ground; sometimes found at higher elevations where it can be found feeding in or near the canopy in vine tangles. The Flat-billed Vireo is a relatively plain species, with bold white wingbars, and whitish eyes. The Greater Antillean Elaenia has a smaller more pointed bill, darker eyes, and is usually found perched upright or flycatching. Flat-billed Vireos sing a “we-we-we-we-we…,” typically in a series of six to ten notes given at a rate of about seven per second, but sometimes given more rapidly at about twelve notes per second. Calls include a staccato ratcheting given by agitated birds.