Plain Mountain Finch

A thick-billed, sparrow-sized songbird. Male has a black hood, a white throat, pale gray upperparts, and a white underside. Female is rufous-brown above and whitish underneath, with dark chest streaking. Juvenile resembles a pale-billed female. Found in varied wooded habitats and forest, where pairs or single birds frequent the understory and subcanopy. Male distinguished from male Golden and Yellow-throated Whistlers by gray back and white underside. Female separated from female Golden and Yellow-throated Whistlers and from Fawn-breasted Whistler by streaked breast and strongly rufous-toned upperparts. Song is a series of strident whistles, including “choo” and “chwee” notes, sometimes in a jumbled series.

A stunning long-tailed waxbill with a red bill, mauve cheeks, and a blue rump. The underparts are vibrant chestnut in the male and cream-buff in the female. Pairs are resident in arid thorn savanna and drier woodlands, where they forage on the ground and lower layers of scrub, often in the company of other finches. The species can be secretive, flying quite a distance when flushed. The Black-faced Waxbill is dark like Violet-eared Waxbill, but it has a red rump, a dark mask, and barred wings. The Purple Grenadier lacks mauve cheeks, and its range does not overlap.

A spectacular and iconic cloud forest bird of northwestern Ecuador and western Colombia. Note gray throat, red breast and belly, black cap, thick white stripe behind eye, and stout, yellow bill tipped with black. Nothing remotely similar occurs in range. Usually found in pairs in the forest canopy, often with mixed-species flocks. Eats large insects as well as fruit; visits feeders. Song duet is a characteristic sound of the region. Male and female simultaneously give a long series of nasal toots at slightly different pitch and pace, so that sometimes the notes overlap.