Mexican Chickadee

Well-named: this distinctive large jay is the color of dark chocolate with paler grayish belly. Sexes alike; juveniles similar to adults but with yellow legs, bill, and eyering. Long tail and floppy flight with deep wingbeats. Common and conspicuous in Mexico and Central America, with very limited range in U.S. Found in small groups in wooded habitats, often near water. Sometimes seen at bird feeders. Listen for very loud calls "kleer, Kleer, kleer."

A fairly small bird of lower montane forest. Both sexes look like a typical female whistler. Yellow belly, olive upperparts, gray head and diffuse band across the chest contrasting with very pale gray throat. Told from the usually higher Regent Whistler female by its plain, pale gray throat and from Sclater’s female by its gray head. Song, a short, whistled, medium-pitch phrase, increasing in volume. Also, an accelerating series of rising, identical-pitch notes with an explosive quality.

A highly localized species, found almost exclusively in the kerangas and peatswamp forests of Borneo and Sumatra’s lowlands (rarely in adjacent wooded habitats). Fairly plain overall; note brown upperparts, off-white chest, pale yellow belly, and elegant white eyebrow. Long and heavy hook-tipped silver bill is diagnostic if seen well. Forages singly, in pairs, and in small bands, typically in the middle and lower levels of forest. Gives a variety of harsh scolding calls, including a nasal “jyaw, jyaw” and a quicker, drier rattle.