Great Pampa-Finch

A compact, elegant pratincole, mostly pale gray above with a warm buffy nape that sometimes extends to the breast and a striking black-and-white face pattern; the legs and base of the bill are reddish. In flight, the striking black-and-white patterning in the wings and tail is unique. Juvenile is scalier and buffier than adult. Flocks prefer wide slow-flowing rivers, where they sit on open sandbanks or forage with swooping flight on long wings, displaying typical pratincole aerial prowess. May move away from regular haunts as a result of floods or drought. Calls include a high-pitched trilling “tre-tre-tretretretretret-teet-teet--teet” that accelerates and then decelerates. The similar Rock Pratincole is darker than Gray, with a different head pattern; Egyptian Plover could be confused in flight, but its dark head and facial pattern and direct flight low over the water differentiate it. 

Endangered, small black-and-white shearwater, endemic to Mexico. Found around Socorro Island mainly from November to May, and rarely offshore between Jalisco and Oaxaca. It is usually found with feeding flocks of other shearwaters, boobies, and terns. Flight is fast and strong, wheeling fairly high in strong winds. Blackish above and white below with blackish undertail coverts, fairly long tail, and white patches or saddlebags that wrap up around the base of the tail. Similar species: Black-vented Shearwater is dark brownish above without the strong black cap of Townsend’s.

Glossy black myna of southern India and Sri Lanka. Note white wing patches, bright orange bill, and yellow head wattles. Inhabits foothill forests, where it is most often encountered high up in the canopy in pairs or small flocks. Gives various croaks and screams, but is less vocally accomplished than the very similar Common Hill Myna, which does not overlap in range.