Obi Golden-Bulbul

Heavyset, gray-brownish seabird of the open Pacific Ocean, with pale patches in the underwings at the primary feathers and indistinct pale feathering around the bill base. Upperparts sometimes show grayish, almost silvery grizzled appearance. High-arcing flight in high winds, as in other gadfly petrel species. Similar to dark-morph Kermadec Petrel, which shows white shafts in primary feathers in the upperwings, lacking in Providence.

A small barbet of dense, broad-leaved forests in lowland and foothill regions. Adult is bright green with a blue face patterned with a complex mosaic of black, red, orange, and yellow. Juvenile is green with a powder-blue face and no dark markings. Like most other barbets, tends to stick to dense canopy and is seldom seen, but its far-carrying song is often heard: a long steady series of single or doubled chirping notes that somewhat resemble a frog’s. Also gives a series of rising peeps: “weet, weet, weet.” Overlaps with Blue-eared Barbet (with which it is treated as one species by some taxonomies) in far southern Thailand and northern Malaysia.

Plain brown warbler with pale legs. Breeds in Central Asia; winters primarily on the Indian peninsula. Prefers trees with sparse canopy in open, dry habitat. Can be told from Blyth’s Reed Warbler by its leaf-warbler-like behavior and longer tail, and from Booted Warbler by its less compact appearance; flatter stance; longer pale bill (mostly without a dark tip); longer, more loosely attached tail; more pointy face; harder call; and preference for canopy tops. Call is a hard, fast, continuous arrhythmic “thk…thk, thk, thk.”