Red-headed Finch

A large, robust, ungainly cuckoo with rufous wings and a long, broad tail. Shows a solid dark cap and back of the head, and white underparts. Unlike other coucals, shows an obviously barred rump and upper tail coverts. It often moves clumsily, preferring to clamber about in rank vegetation or walk on the ground foraging for insects or small vertebrates. Its flight is labored and heavy. This species uses a wide variety of habitats with a thick understory, including savanna, woodland, forest edge, and wetlands. The song is a deep descending bubbling series, “bu-bu-bu bu bu bu bu”, that falls and then rises in pitch.

Often draws attention to its presence by its song: an ascending sequence of “kwa” notes, similar to Green-backed Trogon, but faster. Two subspecies occur in Brazil, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina with limited geographical overlap that vary in the color of the breast and eyering; the southern one has a red belly and eyering, while the northern one has a yellow belly and eyering. The males of both subspecies have a violet-blue head and breast, a green back, and a white undertail. Females have a dull gray breast and the undertail is gray with white tips. Found in the middle to upper levels of forests and woodlands.

A bright green insect hunter with a long bill and triangular starling-like wings. Adult has a bright blue throat, orange-brown crown and nape, and long trailing central tail feathers. Sexes are alike. Juveniles have a paler blue throat, no orange-brown coloration, and no long tail extensions. Often hunts from exposed perches such as telephone lines or snags, on which it rubs its venomous quarry so as to disarm it. Call is a bright, inflected “chileep.”