Elegant Parrot

A large, long-tailed, iridescent blue-green to purple glossy starling with barred wings, and a round-tipped tail. Pairs, groups, and small flocks are resident in dry savanna, especially near thorn trees, where they have become common in camps and often associate with humans. The species feeds on the ground, walking with long strides and sitting low in trees, searching for insects, small vertebrates, and plant matter to eat. The similar Meves’s Starling differs from Burchell’s Starling by being bluer and smaller, with a more strongly graduated tail that is proportionately longer.

Large bulbul with a wispy, upright crest. Rich brown above with a gray face and bright yellow belly. White of the throat usually not visible. Loud and gregarious, moving through the lower and middle levels of foothill forests, constantly giving loud, nasal, somewhat babbler-like calls. Puff-throated Bulbul is very similar, but range overlap is minimal; in Puff-throated, look out for a much whiter, prominent throat patch, darker underparts, and a darker brown cast to the plumage overall.

Mostly arboreal guan endemic to the semi-humid forest with Podocarpus and alders of the mid-elevation east Andes in southern Bolivia and northeast Argentina. Often in ravines and river basins. The sympatric Dusky-legged Guan is more common, but shows grayish-blue skin around the eye. Tends to perch high in trees, singly or in pairs, and often found by far-carrying vocalizations given from high in trees. Note pale supercilium, dull pinkish legs, exposed red orbital skin and wattle.