White-throated Flowerpecker

Brightly-colored male has a bright golden belly, a black chest band and head, and a clean white throat. He appears to have a black “shawl” with golden wings and a black tail. Female is considerably duller, being olive-brownish above and yellow below, with a brown breast. Endemic to Vanikoro, in the southeastern Solomons, where it is found in most island habitats, though avoids villages. Voice includes a sequence of sparsely spaced, thin, uninspired whistles. Formerly grouped with Utupua Whistler and Nendo Whistler under “Temotu Whistler.”

Tall pale gray crane with pink legs and red bare skin on head extending down the neck. Juvenile facial coloring less prominent. Typically wades in shallow wetlands or in cropped agricultural areas. Unmistakable in Asia. In Australia, take care to identify from Brolga, which has black legs and gray upper neck. Listen for its loud, far-carrying bugling calls.

A red-eyed all-black upright bird with a narrow tail that splays out into a deep fork. Pairs and singles are found in a variety of wooded and open country, avoiding forest interior. They are often found in the vicinity of wild and domestic large mammals, hawking insects that they flush up. Occasionally joins mixed-species flocks. Loud and vocal bird that gives a variety of unmelodic, noisy, and mechanical notes, sometimes including imitations of other bird species. Similar to Sharpe’s and Square-tailed Drongos, but note larger size and much more deeply forked tail of Fork-tailed Drongo. Also similar to Velvet-mantled Drongo, but found in open habitats rather than forest, and has a glossy-black back that doesn’t contrast strongly with the glossy wing, and a less deeply forked tail.