Dot-eared Coquette

A small songbird with a modestly long tail and pale bill. Slate-gray above, pale below, with black mask and chin, rich rufous-orange throat and upper breast, and white tail corners. Inhabits and forest edge, where itorages actively, sometimes hovering. Song varies across range, from rising mellow whistles in the Lesser Sundas to raspier whistled notes in Australia. Calls also vary, but are generally harsh and unpleasant-sounding buzzes and rattles.

Graceful songbird of well-shaded forests, particularly stream gullies; often in more open habitat in migration. Stunning breeding male purplish-black above and white below, with a short crest, neon-blue eyerings, and long black tail streamers. Female and non-breeding male have dark gray head and chest, paler eyering, shorter crest, and chestnut-brown wings and tail, without streamers. Compare with female and non-breeding male Amur and Blyth’s paradise-flycatchers, with which Black overlaps on its Southeast Asian wintering grounds. Note Black’s contiguous dark gray throat and chest (Amur has a more sharply-demarcated black throat and gray chest), dull darkish wings (Blyth’s has brighter rufous wings), and fairly clean demarcation between gray breast and white belly (Blyth’s has a more gradual fade). Song a run-on series of coarse whistles; call a rough, nasal “bee.”

A medium-sized green parrot with diagnostic pale eyes, a bicolored (dark and pale) bill, and extensive yellow on the underwings in flight. Pairs breed in arid and open broadleaf woodland, riverine forest, and cultivation. The species can be locally nomadic, attracted in large groups to seeds, nuts, and fruit, attracting attention to itself with loud screeching and high-pitched metallic calls. The similar Brown-necked Parrot is much larger than Brown-headed Parrot, and is told apart by its green underwings, massive all-pale bill, and red shoulder patches and boots. Meyer’s Parrot has a brown back and yellow shoulders.