Buru Boobook

A large, grayish crane with a gleaming white neck, conspicuous wattles, and red facial skin. The immature is duller and lacks wattles, but it retains the distinctive pale neck of the adult. It requires sedge-dominated wetlands for breeding but will forage on adjacent grasslands and plains, where it digs for tubers, insects, and small vertebrates. The Wattled Crane is resident in larger wetlands, where it breeds in pairs, although flocks of up to 1,000 may gather after breeding. It is locally nomadic in smaller perennial wetlands in alpine grasslands. Although it is mostly silent, it has a distinctive, rapid, screechy “Koorok-kreek” call.

Small bird with thin pointed bill, uncommon in mulga woodland of arid inland temperate Australia. Brownish gray above, cream-colored below, with dark eye, dark streaking on forecrown, pale lores, pale-tipped dark tail, and chestnut rump, often visible in flight. Usually seen in pairs or singly, foraging low in branches rather than on the ground. Distinguished from juvenile Chestnut-rumped Thornbill (which also has dark eyes) by noting the dark streaks on Slaty-backed’s forehead. Typical calls are thin chatter and a clear, reeling trill.

Medium-sized antbird with plump body and short tail. Gray body and brown back. Look for red eye and small white spots on shoulder. Female similar to male but slightly paler. Found inside forest, always close to the ground and usually in gullies near streams. Usually in pairs. Song is a good clue to its presence: listen for high, thin whistles, the first few higher and the last several dropping in pitch.