Hume's Boobook

Medium-sized plover with a pale throat, brown back, and white belly. Breeding adults have a black mask and a bright orange chest and neck; males average brighter than females. Non-breeding and immature birds are brownish above and white below, with a variable white forehead and eyebrow. Compare with slightly larger Greater Sand-Plover; Tibetan is proportionally smaller-headed and darker-legged, and its shorter bill has a slight bulge at the tip. Smaller Kentish Plover can be similar in non-breeding plumage; Tibetan is taller and longer-legged, without Kentish’s strong white neck band. Very difficult to distinguish from Siberian Sand-Plover, especially nonbreeding and immature birds, though identification can often be presumed by range. In breeding plumage, note the more extensive black mask of Tibetan, typically lacking the white spot on the forehead of Siberian. In nonbreeding plumage, look for a generally broken breast band and clean white flanks in Tibetan. In areas of overlap many birds best left unidentified. Breeds on margins of high-elevation lakes and rivers in China and Mongolia; winters on coastal mudflats, beaches, and inland lakes from Africa to Indonesia.

Subtly handsome sparrow of northwest Mexico, with range extending just into Arizona. Note the black-and-white throat stripes (five stripes, including the white central throat), brownish upperparts, and gray breast with black central spot. Found in brushy scrub and thorn forest, especially on rocky slopes. Usually in pairs, which keep in touch with high, rhythmic twittering choruses. Can be very skulking. Mostly stays low in brush or on the ground, but sings from atop bushes.

A large brown thrush with a yellow-tipped dark bill and scaly underparts. The juvenile is flecked buffy above. The only thrush on São Tomé, where it is a common resident in any environment with trees. Song is a musical, rich, varied whistled medley, “wee-eet wheeeoo, cheee chirrit,” that rolls up and down and is mostly given at dawn and dusk.