Chestnut Antpitta

Compact swallow with a short, square tail. In flight, looks slightly less angular than other swallows, with more rounded wings. Note pale buffy-orange rump, which separates Cave from most other swallows in range. Also look for pale orange throat and orange forehead. Compare especially with Cliff Swallow, which has a darker throat and pale forehead. Fairly common in northern Mexico and on the Yucatan peninsula, with numbers increasing dramatically in Texas. Also occurs in the Caribbean, where birds are richer orange on the throat, rump, and sides. Sometimes nests in caves, but also frequently found under bridges and other human-made structures. Forages over open fields or bodies of water. Vagrants turn up regularly in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada in late fall, after most other swallows have departed.

A striking, mostly dark harrier with large white panels in the underwings, a white rump, and bands on the tail. The juvenile is brown with white flashes in the underwings and has a heavily-streaked chest. It quarters low over heath-like fynbos, semi-desert Karoo, and dune brush hunting for small birds and mammals. Regularly disperses irruptively north into grasslands and steppe from January to July.

Dark gray cuckoo with an unusually long tail and barring on the underparts. Found in forest and thick woodland. Shy and retiring, and most easily found by voice. There are two main vocalizations. One is a long series of slurred “treow” calls which become more emphatic. This sometimes leads into the second call type, which is a three-noted “toot twet tow.” Very similar to Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo, and best separated by voice, but also identified by paler upperparts, narrower barring on the underparts, and paler rufous on the undertail.