Least Storm-Petrel

A shy, uniformly chestnut-brown bird found in the foothills and lower slopes of Colombia’s Santa Marta Mountains. It lacks strong field marks, but has a rather stout bill and is slightly paler on the chin and around the eye. Always stays inside dense tangles in the forest understory, making it hard to see, and is heard much more often than it is seen. Song is a series of quick bursts of around five notes with an odd, nasal quality.

Subtly marked sparrow with a poor name; "rufous wing" is restricted to a tiny, barely visible patch on the shoulder. Gray head and neck with peaked rufous crown and rufous eyeline. Stout pink bill. Sides are buff and unstreaked on adults. Back and wings are also buffy with fine markings. Paler throat is edged with thin dark lines. Primarily a Mexican species with very limited range in the U.S.; found in pairs or small flocks in brushy grasslands. Variable song usually composed of a few clear tinkling notes and trills.

A small, mostly grass-green bee-eater with a canary-yellow throat separated from buff underparts by a black line across the throat. Singles and pairs occupy grassy savanna and wetland edges. They often perch lower than 1.5 m above the ground, and dart around hunting flying insects, then returning to the same small twig. Calls include a sibilant “s-lip” and other high-pitched notes. The Blue-breasted Bee-eater is slightly larger and has a white patch on the cheek. The much larger Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater has burnt orange underparts, and it prefers highland forest above 1800 m.