Tanimbar Boobook

Long-winged, northern raptor found in open areas like fields and marshes. Plumage variable; light morphs generally pale with dark belly and dark patches on "wrists." Dark morphs have brown or blackish body with finely banded tail and striking white flight feathers. Some birds intermediate. Hovers often, kestrel-like, flapping wings while looking down. Also perches at edges of tree branches and tops of trees, places larger hawks are too heavy to perch. Breeds in far northern tundra and moves south irregularly to winter in open fields and grasslands. Compare with other Buteo hawks, such as Red-tailed Hawk and Common Buzzard, where ranges overlap. Note size, small bill, shaggy feathers on legs, and long and narrow wings.

Small, short-tailed warbler with a sharply pointed, bicolored bill. Blue-gray above with mossy-green patch on the back, white eye-arcs, and yellow breast. Adult males have most extensive black and rufous breast band; young females are plain yellow. Breeds in mature coniferous or deciduous forests, especially near water. Builds nest with moss; especially fond of Spanish moss in the southeast U.S. and old-man’s-beard in the Northeast. Found in any wooded habitat in migration. Winters primary in the Caribbean and eastern Mexico. Loud song is a buzzy, ascending trill with sharp chip at the end; sounds like a zipper. Compare with Tropical Parula, which always has a clean yellow or orange breast and lacks white eye-arcs.

Extremely similar to widespread Rufous Hummingbird; identical in plumage except for males' solid green back (which can be shown by Rufous too). Breeds only along a narrow strip of coastal California and southern Oregon. On females and immature males, the only way to separate them from Rufous is by the shape of the tail feathers, which is extremely difficult to determine without good photographs.