Solitary Black Cacique

Medium-sized brown bird with a long, spiky tail. Found in a wide variety of moist and woody habitats, including rainforest, wet scrub, plantations, and gardens. Absent or very local in much of west and southwest Madagascar. Skulks in thick undergrowth. Incessantly given call is a Geiger counter-like ticking. Darker brown than Subdesert Brush-Warbler, with a lower-pitched call and little overlap in range. Similar to Madagascar Swamp-Warbler, but has less distinct breast streaking and white eyebrow, and is generally found in scrub rather than marsh.

A medium-sized black-and-white sparrowhawk with an entirely black back, chest, and hood and a white underside. Prefers dense forest interiors up to 1000 meters of elevation. Very similar to Pied Goshawk, but prefers less open habitats and has a black throat. In flight, Imitator Sparrowhawk has a thick dark rear edge to the underwing, compared to Pied Goshawk’s relatively white underwing. Imitator’s voice is relatively poorly known, but apparently vocally similar to other goshawks; a series of loud piercing whistles has been reported.

Small black-and-white bird with a bright red patch of bare skin above the eye. Males have a black breast band, and females a brown throat. Found in thick woodland, gallery forest, and mangroves. The song is usually given as a duet: a descending series of melancholy whistles from the male, and lower rasping notes from the female. Similar to Black-throated Wattle-eye, but shows a white slash on the wing, and the female has a brown rather than white throat. Separated from batises by the red wattle and, in females, by the brown throat.