Rufous-faced Antpitta

A slender, long-tailed mid-story and canopy warbler-like bird with olive green upperparts extending to the flanks, a grayish face (sometimes extending to the forehead) with a striking pale lemon eye, and a bright yellow throat and breast bisected by a thin black bar. Pairs are resident in forest, forest edge, and plantations, where they may join mixed-species flocks. Song, often in duet, a strident repeated two syllable “ti-leep” from the male and a higher-pitched ‘ti-ti-ti….” from the female.

Chunky, large-headed bird of rainforest understory. Brown with extensive white streaking, and a band of reddish brown across the back of the neck. Usually sits motionless in the understory, sometimes moving with mixed species flocks with birds like ant-tanagers and antwrens, or at army ant swarms. Rarely gives its song, a high-pitched trill, but more frequently gives a weak whistled “weew” that sounds like a soft Tawny-crowned Greenlet and often is overlooked.

Very small swift with stiff, quick wingbeats. Grayish overall with paler throat and brownish rump. Relatively short-winged and short-tailed compared with other similar swifts. Often in small flocks. Listen for its high-pitched chips and trills. Feeds on aerial insects over a variety of habitats, including forests, fields, towns, and bodies of water. Multiple populations are surely distinct species. Migratory population breeds extensively in the western U.S. and Canada, wintering to Central America. Resident “Richmond’s Swift” occurs through much of Mexico and Central America, and is darker overall than migratory Vaux’s with a more contrasting pale throat and browner rump. There are also resident populations on the Yucatan peninsula and in western Venezuela, for which identification criteria are not well-defined. Range overlaps with several other similar swifts in Mexico and Central America. Vaux’s is smaller with quicker wingbeats than Chimney Swift or Gray-rumped Swift, with higher-pitched calls.