Cuban Tody

Often seen swirling in flocks above mountain passes, scrubby alpine forests, and highland meadows, this large thrush is unlike any other. Adult male is a deep, almost eye-searing blue with jet-black wings. Females and immatures are brown with white streaks all over the head and underparts and weak white bars on the wings. Long-billed and sharp-winged profile, along with flocking behavior, is more reminiscent of starlings than thrushes.

Large songbird of New Guinea and Solomon Islands, also on Boigu Island in the northern Torres Strait. Adult glossy black with strong metallic green/blue sheen and bright red eye. Tail has blunt square tip. Juvenile brown above, pale below, with heavy short brown streaks. Compare Spangled Drongo, which has heavy, flared, forked tail, and Metallic Starling, which has long, tapered, pointed tail.

Fairly common in Argentine Patagonia, but local and scarce in southern Chile. Favors semiopen habitats, from shrub-steppe to farmland with hedges and shrubby patches. Often perches atop bushes and on roadside wires and posts. Runs well on the ground, usually with tail cocked; at times can be rather elusive, skulking in bushes. Identified by bold pale eyebrow, buffy-gray underparts, white wingbars, and white tail corners; compare with White-banded Mockingbird, which has much more white in wings and tail.