Orange-backed Woodpecker

A medium-sized blue-and-white kingfisher with a big, heavy black bill. Bluish-green upperparts and chest band contrast with creamy white underparts and white neck patch. Tail and rump lighter blue. Found along slow-flowing lowland rivers. Common Kingfisher is smaller, with orange underparts, and Little Kingfisher is much smaller with a comparatively thinner, weaker bill. Bismarck is told from dwarf kingfishers by larger size, heavier bill, and plain blue upperparts not flecked white. Told from all other blue-and-white kingfishers by blue hindneck and lack of black mask. Call is a loud whistle, stronger and less hissing than Common Kingfisher’s.

A tiny honeyeater of mid-montane forest canopy and villages. Brown with a whitish belly and fairly short curved bill. Female has just a reddish smudge in the base of the bill and male a scarlet hood and rump with black wings and back. Male is unmistakable. Female is similar to other species, but smaller and only has red on the chin. Similar size to a flowerpecker, but Elfin has a longer, more curved bill. Song, a whistled “chew chew-daloo” and call a simple “tsip”.

Very elusive, chickenlike bird of humid evergreen and pine-evergreen forests and adjacent shade-coffee plantations in the highlands of extreme southeast Chiapas and from Guatemala to Costa Rica. Usually in pairs or small groups on the forest floor; may be seen beside quiet trails and roads early and late in the day. Runs away quickly and rarely flies. Note the white crown and throat, dark bill, and red eyering. Loud rollicking songs are given mainly early and late in the day and most often reveal its presence.