African Penduline-Tit

Medium-sized, slender songbird, dark above, white below; rather large for a minivet. Male has white forecrown and brow, lacking in female. In both sexes, white of breast curves up behind black ear coverts, producing a distinctive head pattern. Both also show dusky patches on the sides of the breast that make a “vested” appearance. Inhabits lowland to montane forests, where typically forages in small flocks. Gives a dry trilling call, often in flight.

Small, rather long-tailed bird found high in the rainforest canopy; it only occurs south of the Amazon River. Plumage is mostly plain gray, but is slightly darker on the back and paler on the belly. It has a thin, broken eyering and white outer tail feathers. Similar to female Tropical Gnatcatcher, but area below the eye is gray, not white. Quite scarce and very easy to overlook due to its small size and the difficulty of seeing into the canopy from the forest floor. Typical song is a quick series of six to ten high pitched “sip” notes; these bursts are usually repeated multiple times with a short pause in between. Formerly included with several other similar species under the name of Guianan Gnatcatcher.

Australian crows and ravens are challenging to identify; concentrate on call, throat-hackles, behavior, and location. Calls usually a very fairly short, repeated “ah-ah-ah.” Note relatively short bill, white bases to the small throat hackles. Similar Torresian Crow larger and more likely to be found in very large flocks in dry inland parts of Australia. Inhabits arid inland areas of Australia and is not the default crow/raven in any of the major cities.