Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike

A medium-sized pallid and delicately-patterned sandgrouse. Pale and sandy overall. Note male’s silver-gray eyebrow and orange cheek and throat. Female has a paler version of the male’s pattern, as well as a speckled nape and chest. Lacks breast bands, unlike Pin-tailed and Black-bellied Sandgrouse. Very similar to Crowned Sandgrouse, but note the present species’ tail filaments and different facial pattern. Note the strong contrast in two-toned underwings when in flight. Flight call is a characteristic “Waka! Waka!” Favors sandy or stony desert plains where it breeds on the ground. Congregates to drink in waterholes in the morning, often flying back and forth over long distances in large flocks.

Spectacular cloud forest bird found only in remote mountains east of the main cordillera of the Andes in northern Peru. Distinctive in its small range with red crown and breast band, white throat, and yellow flanks. Usually encountered in pairs or small groups that feed on fruit in the forest canopy. Song is a soft, low-pitched gurgle; it also gives weird rattling calls.

Small migratory plover. Widespread in New Zealand breeding on braided rivers on both the North and South Islands. Much of the population migrates to overwinter along coastal areas in Australia, but also ventures into freshwater wetlands and grasslands. In breeding plumage, adult has two dark bands on breast, the upper band thin and blackish, the lower band broad and rusty. Nonbreeding birds more difficult to distinguish from other similar plovers: look for pale hindcollar, buff color on face, and two diffuse gray-brown streaks extending onto the breast from near the bend of the wing. This species also has shorter legs and a shorter, thinner bill than Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers.