Sierra Nevada Brushfinch

Small, delicately-built gray raptor with orange barring on chest and belly. When soaring, tail-tip is notched when not fanned out. When perched, look for a tiny bill, blank-staring expression (no heavy brow), and very skinny legs. Much less likely to circle high in sky than Brown Goshawk, and tends to stick to cover.

A cute, dumpy, colorful flycatcher-like bird that flits around in the mid-canopy and understory of forest, forest edge, plantations, and gardens. Males have a broad black chest band, yellow-orange eye, white stripe through the top of the wing, and white throat. Females have an orange eye, buff-and-white stripe through the top of the wing, and rufous chin patch. The song is a series of 8-9 plaintive steady piping “peooop” notes, and calls include buzzing grating “ddrz-drrzt-drrr, ddt-ddzt-drzt-drr”. Female Dark Batis is distinguished by its darker (rich rufous rather than white and buff) wing stripe. Male Dark Batis is very similar, but has a slightly longer tail and broader black breast stripe. Also similar to Chinspot Batis, but has darker orange color to the eyes, and female Malawi Batis shows paler rufous on the throat and buff tinges to the wing stripe.

A large brown babbler of scrubby edges, second growth, and open forest in hilly and montane habitats. Usually in pairs when breeding, but sometimes in larger groups in the winter. Gray-brown from the crown down to the tail, orange on the face, sides, and undertail, and white on the throat, breast, and belly. Lacks strong streaking or spotting. Like other scimitar-babblers, frequently duets, giving far-carrying hooting choruses together. Also gives rolling chattering series typical of the genus. Red-eyed Scimitar-Babbler of Myanmar and northwest Thailand was formerly treated as part of this species; Rusty-cheeked is restricted to the Himalayas.