Cuban Grassquit

A graceful aerial feeder found over a wide variety of open habitats, especially near water, including marshes and towns. Often seen on exposed perches including power and telephone lines in villages. Commonly found in flocks of up to twenty birds, sometimes mixing with other swallows and martins. Note the male’s diagnostic glossy purple-blue plumage and snow-white belly. Females and immatures are similarly patterned, but have brown mixed with the blue and are probably not safely separable from Cuban Martin. Female and immature Purple Martins are very similar, but they often have a scaly breast and finely streaked belly, with less contrast between belly and chest. Notably, Cuban and Purple Martins are not present in this species’ range from March to September. Calls include a harsh “churr,” a buzzy “zwick-zwick,” and a musical buzzy burbling.

A small, nondescript brown songbird. An abnormal white-eye, appearing more like a gerygone due to its brown upperparts, whitish underside, and complete absence of a white eye-ring. Occurs in the foothills within thickets, scrub, and forest edge. Gregarious, often mixing with other species, especially the very different Mountain and Seram White-eyes. Confined to Seram. Unmistakable within its limited range, where no gerygones occur. High-pitched twittering call reported.

A medium-sized greenbul of thickets and tangles that prefers edge and semi-disturbed habitats. Most often seen in pairs or small family groups, but it will occasionally join other species in flocks. Gray below except for a bright yellow throat, and uniformly yellow-green above with reddish eyes. Most likely to be confused with the similarly named Yellow-throated Greenbul, which usually has a paler whitish throat in areas where the two species overlap. Yellow-necked Greenbuls can be distinguished by their uniformly gray underparts, brighter olive-green upperparts, dark red eyes, and consistently bright yellow throats. Voice is a variable subdued chatter, “kur-ku-kurkwu.”