Large-billed Tern

Small warblerlike tanager. Male is distinctive: mostly black above with yellow patch on back, yellow throat and undertail coverts, and dingy whitish belly. Female is less striking: overall yellowish with grayer flanks, yellow edging on wing feathers, and orange lower bill (sometimes dull). Widespread from eastern Panama to southeast Brazil. Typically seen in pairs foraging in the canopy of lowland forest, often following a mixed-species flock.

This strikingly colored denizen of montane woodlands (and less often, mangrove swamps) is rather sedate. It is often found sitting upright and rather motionless, typically in pairs. One's first impression is often of a rather long and largish bird with a brilliant red belly, emerald back, and blackish head. No similar species occur within its range. Song is a tremulous “whut-will,” with second note longer and trailing off at end. The first note is sometimes omitted and second note is sometimes given as doublet or triplet. Calls include a shrill “whee” and soft coos. Though rather vocal, calling birds are difficult to locate due ventriloquial quality of their vocalizations.

A distinctive and common inhabitant of high-altitude open spaces such as pastures, steppelands, and mountain valleys. Bold and confiding, often visiting villages and towns where it forages for scraps with snowfinches, mountain-finches, and other accentors. Combination of ash-gray head, orange breast, and white belly is unique amongst the birds in its region.