Red-faced Crimsonwing

The male is a striking, medium-sized, mostly dark bustard with a bold white cheek patch and a reddish bill. The female has a black belly and is elsewhere finely barred. In flight it has a conspicuous white window on both the upper and lower sides of the wing. Scattered individuals, sometimes associated in small groups, inhabit arid savanna and Karoo scrub. It singscalls a strident, ratcheting “kraak-kraak-kraak” which leads into a maniacal “raa-cha-ka-ka-ka....cha-ka-ka-ka” display as the male flies around 20–30 m above the ground, with legs dangling. In flight, Black Bustard’s lack of large white wing patches separates it from the similar White-quilled Bustard.

Small glossy crow, common in northwest Mexico; endemic. Occurs in towns, villages, rubbish dumps, farmland, and semiopen areas with hedges and taller trees; often near water. Roosts locally in mangroves (at times in thousands). Social and usually in flocks, at times of hundreds. Most likely to be confused with male Great-tailed Grackle, which has pale eyes and longer and keel-shaped tail (shed in late-summer molt). Calls are high, nasal caws.

An exquisitely- and distinctively-colored laughingthrush, though often shy and unwilling to stray far from cover outside of areas where habituated to human feeding. Mostly dark, ashen gray but has silvery cheeks, an orange crown, and bright red wings and tail, which are often seen as flashes in the gloomy undergrowth of thick evergreen forest. Chatters constantly and (often frustratingly) frequently as it moves around in large flocks in hill forest and forest edge. Listen for its song, a distinctive whistled “woouuu-weee!”, sometimes followed by rising, laughing “dee-dee!” notes.