Brown-backed Whistler

Rather plain medium-sized warbler: warm brown above with narrow pale spectacles, pale buffy below. Can be very difficult to separate from other reed warbler species. Most populations breed in reed or sedge beds, both pure and mixed with bushes, often wandering to adjacent scrub and thickets. “Mangrove” Reed Warbler is a resident in mangroves along the Red Sea. Non-breeding migratory birds may wind up in a wide range of habitats, from marshes to mangroves, to acacia scrub and cultivation. Often heard but can be hard to see: prolonged song much like Sedge Warbler but more even-paced and melodic, without rough and jerky phrases. Calls include a low “chuk” and rattled “chrrt.”

Medium-sized dark swift with small white throat patch and rump patch. Commonly nests in building and cave crevices and often seen in small flocks over valleys, cities, and forests. Plumage pattern is similar to Pacific Swift, which has darker throat and very different shape, with longer, more pointed wings and long, sharply forked tail. White plumage patches distinguish it from Aerodramus swiftlets. Gives a high-pitched, twittering trill.

A large, long-necked pigeon, more uniformly gray than other imperial-pigeons in the region. Overall very pale, with a dark blue tail, a pinkish wash to throat and chest, and a gray back and wings. Birds in the Admiralty Islands have green wings and back. Relatively coastal, preferring smaller islands. Perches conspicuously in the open. Similar to Pacific Imperial-Pigeon, but overall paler. Birds on the Admiralty Islands differ from juvenile Red-knobbed Imperial-Pigeon in their gray, not cinnamon, belly and underside. Normally heard giving a high-pitched “ahu ahu ahu ahu” call, falling in pitch and volume.