Newton's Fiscal

Small, beautiful tanager with bright uniform green plumage. Males have bluish wings and tail and scattered dots on breast. Note the dark lores. Females are all green and lack the dark lores. Found patchily in the canopy of humid forest and forest edges, typically in white sand areas or ridgetops, and often found with mixed-species flocks. Easily confused with juveniles of Yellow-bellied and Spotted Tanagers. The song is a very high, hissing “tsip... tsee-tseee-tsee-tsee-tsee”.

Perky little bird of open country, especially heathland with gorse, moorland, weedy meadows, scrubby marsh margins, and rough grassland with scattered low bushes. Perches atop bushes and on fences, dropping to the ground to feed, before flying back up to a perch. Male distinctive, with blackish head set off by big white patch on sides of neck, orangey breast. Female brownish overall with paler eyebrow (only behind eye, unlike Whinchat), dull orangey breast; shows paler rump in flight, contrasting with solidly blackish tail. Warbled song is short and buzzy. Calls include dry “tchak” and rising “weet.”

Small finchlike bird with brown wings, pale bill, and yellowish rump. Found in areas with tall grass, often in flocks beside rivers or floodplains, sometimes mixed with other seed-eating species. Pale gray head contrasts with dark brown back and wings, underparts pale buff, and rump and tail dark yellowish tone. Juvenile very plain, easily confused with juvenile Chestnut-breasted (which has less uniform upperparts) or Pictorella Munia (which has shadow pattern of dark ear coverts, recalling adult’s).