Straneck's Tyrannulet

A mid-sized brown barbet with pale yellow covering the head and chin. Immature is duller than the adult, with some yellow facial skin and pale coloration on the bill. Has a paler head, smaller wing patches and higher-pitched call than the similar Whyte’s Barbet. It is a low-density resident in Miombo (Brachystegia) woodland, favoring riverine areas with fruiting fig and sugar plum trees. Song a nasal “hooo-hooo-hooo” which often reveals its presence.

Large and gracefully built crane with long and droopy wing feathers. Adults are pearl-gray with a red face and a white stripe running from the crown down along the back of the neck. Juveniles are similar, but are tinged with brown across their upperparts. Less tolerant of dry fields than Hooded and Common Cranes, and often found in smaller groups.

A gregarious small seed-eating bird of pine forests and forest openings that also visits agricultural areas near dry scrubby forests. The male is unique in appearance with green upperparts, yellow underparts, a black head, and a thick pale bill. Females of this species resemble female and nonbreeding Village Weavers, but the Village Weavers are substantially larger, have a distinct pale eyebrow, a dark bill and pink legs. Calls include a “jut-jut,” a shrill and buzzy “zzhhreeeee,” and a buzzy insect-like “zzzzzzzzzt” that is upward inflected.