Spotted Kestrel

Medium-sized wren, slender and long-tailed. Dark brown above and pale grayish below with a bold white eyebrow. Slender bill is slightly decurved. Superficially similar to Carolina Wren but duller grayish-brown and slightly longer-tailed. Occurs in a variety of scrubby habitats, especially thickets and hedgerows in open woodland. Also at home in gardens, residential areas, and parks. Usually skulking, but sometimes perches conspicuously when singing. Song is variable, but usually includes high-pitched buzzes and musical trills.

Tiny and rather unobtrusive bird with brownish upperparts and luminous lemon-yellow underparts. Superficially similar to female and juvenile Olive-backed Sunbirds, but note gerygone’s short, uncurved bill. Forages in parks, forests, and plantations, where it often joins mixed flocks moving through the middle and upper layers. Song is variable throughout its range but invariably includes buzzy notes with obvious rises and falls in pitch.

Very large, but rather local coot; rare except at a few lakes in the high Andes set amid barren and rocky surroundings. Often far out on deep-water lakes, where it looks rather uneventful: black overall with a pale yellowish bill. Seen up close, note the bizarre, erectile black “horn” appendage covering the bill base. Juvenile is dark sooty gray with a whitish throat. Builds remarkable nest mounds of stones topped with weeds that look like the tips of huge underwater volcanoes and take months, if not years, to complete.