Christmas Island White-eye

An unstreaked bright yellow weaver with uniform green wings, back, and upper tail. A slender black bill and Zorro-like bandit mask surrounding the pale eye further identify it. The male has a black throat patch that the female lacks. Individuals and pairs occupy savanna, forest edge, and thicket, avoiding well developed forest. The species is often first detected by its distinctive downward “tee-tee-tee-tee-tee….” call. The Black-necked Weaver differs in having a distinctive dark back, except for the olive-backed race in West Africa, which is told apart from the very similar Spectacled Weaver by a thicker bill and more chestnut on the head and breast.

Dull manakin of seasonally flooded swamp forest in Amazonian lowlands. Male is less colorful than most manakins, with brown upperparts, cinnamon underparts, and a white throat; his orange crown is usually hidden and not often seen in the field. Female is duller; she is mostly olive-brown with a pale throat and face, and lacks a crown patch. Usually seen at lower to middle levels of forest along streams and lakes. Typical song is a rapid trill with undulating pitch.

Distinctive tern-like bird with long wings, a short tail, and a bizarre bill in which the upper mandible is shorter than the lower mandible. In slow flight, shows a very white underwing and a white stripe along the back of the upperwing. Feeds by skimming its knife-like lower mandible through the water and snapping up small fish that it makes contact with. Found very locally on sandbars in lakes and rivers. Call is a husky “chep.”