Omao

Small warbler with subtly distinctive plumage: muted lime green above, silky white below, with a pale yellow throat and yellow eyebrows. Favors shady deciduous and mixed woods for breeding, especially areas with beech and oak. Often rather inconspicuous, feeding high in leafy canopy, but can be located by distinctive, ringing song. Slightly larger and longer-winged than Willow Warbler. Occupies a range of wooded and brushy habitats in non-breeding range, from moist forests to dry wooded savannas.

A chunky green barbet with diagnostic red over its entire face, forehead, throat, and breast. It has a diffuse blue band on the sides of the head and breast, while a thick black traverse band separates the blue parts from the red. Some faint streaking visible below on an otherwise green ground color. Juvenile is duller green, lacks the prominent face pattern of the adult, sports a gray band instead of blue, and shows some yellow among the red feathers. Juvenile is best told from a juvenile Coppersmith Barbet by its unstreaked underparts. Malabar Barbet is heard more often than seen. Its call is a fast paced “kuk-kuk-kuk,” doubtfully separable from that of a Coppersmith by its sometimes slightly faster pace. Malabar sticks to the wetter jungles of the Western Ghats and does not occupy the drier or more open habitats of the Coppersmith, though in some localities both species co-occur. 

Chunky bunting, found in wetlands with reed beds and scattered bushes; also in farmland and other open areas with bushes and hedges. In the spring and summer, male gives his halting song from a prominent perch, showing off distinctive black-and-white head pattern (pattern muted in winter). Female streaky overall, much like other buntings, with boldly striped head. Compare with very similar Pallas’s Bunting, note rusty shoulders, thicker and more conical bill, dark brownish rump. White outer tail feathers often show in flight. Calls include a quiet, mellow “tsew” and buzzy notes.