Yellow-spectacled Heleia

Distinctive and charismatic little bird with a bright orangey face and breast (easily hidden when facing away). Juvenile is very different, with bold pale buffy spotting on the back and breast. Found in a wide range of wooded habitats, including forests, gardens, hedges in farmland, and heathland, usually fairly near cover. Hops perkily on the ground, pausing to look around, often flicking its wings and cocking its tail. Also feeds by dropping to the ground from low perches, snatching up prey and flying back up to a shady perch. High-pitched song is highly variable, and incorporates a range of warbles and trills. Subsong is a rambling warbling series often incorporating odd fizzing and twittering notes. Calls include a dry “tic”, often given in bursts, as well as a thin, high-pitched, descending alarm call.

A diminutive, dumpy, long winged, and shorted tail bird of the canopy in humid forests. Mostly dark gray above with a contrasting cinnamon throat. It has a pale band across the rump and a pale scaly belly. The small purple tuft patch on the wings is usually hard to see and is lacking in females.

Small songbird with short, fine bill. Breeding males have black crown and back, white underparts, black wings with bold white wing panels, and black tail with white tip. In nonbreeding plumage crown and back brown, with pale-edged feathers in dark upperwing. Female similar to nonbreeding male. Inhabits lightly wooded areas, especially eucalypt, foraging in pairs or small flocks in the mid- to upper story. Song is a loud, clear series of notes that descend and accelerate into a trill.