Gray-hooded Parrotbill

A garish scarlet bird sporting a dramatic spiky crest and a hefty gray bill. Male overall brilliant red with black chin; female brown, gray-headed, with red crest and tail. Often found in pairs, perched in erect posture on the top of bushes or on exposed branches. Common in desert scrub and dry forests in the lowlands. Voice a melodious and slow whistled series. Unmistakable in arid regions of northern Venezuela and extreme northeastern Colombia.

A striking, mostly dark harrier with large white panels in the underwings, a white rump, and bands on the tail. The juvenile is brown with white flashes in the underwings and has a heavily-streaked chest. It quarters low over heath-like fynbos, semi-desert Karoo, and dune brush hunting for small birds and mammals. Regularly disperses irruptively north into grasslands and steppe from January to July.

Chunky, bull-headed puffbird of lowland and foothill rainforest east of the Andes to far western Brazil. Underparts are pale with dark, vertical streaks. Also note stout, yellowish bill, and brown cap and back. Very similar to Eastern Striolated-Puffbird (limited overlap in Brazil and possibly Bolivia), but has thicker streaks on underparts. Singles or pairs perch motionless for long periods high in the canopy; usually heard before seen. Typical song is a whistled “wip wip-whirrr?, whurrrr”, with the other member of the pair responding at slightly different pitch.