Gray-hooded Flycatcher

Small finchlike bird. Male plain gray with white belly, small white patch at base of primaries, and thick yellow or pinkish-colored bill with curved culmen. No wingbars. Female fairly rich medium brown, extremely similar to other female seedeaters, especially Slate-colored. Note dark blackish bill, but even that is not a foolproof field mark. Generally quite common in open grasslands, edges of second growth, and shrubbery. Usually in small flocks, sometimes mixing with other seedeater species.

Small, long-tailed, rather wrenlike bird of scrubby second-growth thickets and overgrown clearings. Typically rather skulking and heard much more often than seen. Distinctive song is a sneezy “whit’chew” or “whi-whi whit’chew” (“pleased to MEET you!”). Bright rusty breast blends into bright rusty wings and sets off black collar at base of throat. Long, spiny tail and wings lack the dark barring shown by wrens.

A common, “small-billed” golden-backed woodpecker with four toes. Endemic to the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka. Associated with every lowland wooded habitat except dense tropical forest, it often follows degradation into higher elevations. Separated from all other flamebacks except Red-backed by dark throat, lack of a contrasting black horizontal stripe below the cheek, and four toes. Separated from Red-backed by golden back and black shoulder. Often detected by its loud “ki-ki-ki-ki-ki,” which steadily increases in pace and ends in a trill.