Blue Cuckooshrike

Medium-sized sandpiper with long legs and bill. Shaped like a tall, stretched-out Dunlin. Breeding plumage is striking with extensive messy black-and-white barring, white eyebrow, and orange cheek. Nonbreeding is plain pale gray with contrasting white eyebrow. Juveniles usually show pale buffy tones on the head and neck and have an attractive scaly pattern on the upperparts. At all ages, note long, slightly droopy bill and dull yellowish-green legs. In flight, look for pale tail and white rump. Breeds on Arctic tundra in Canada and Alaska. Common migrant through central North America; uncommon to rare on both coasts. During migration and winter, found in shallow wetlands, including marshes, flooded fields, and muddy ponds. Usually wades in the water while feeding, often mixed with yellowlegs and dowitchers.

Scarce hummingbird that looks similar to a hermit. Look for buffy patch across the base of the neck, bold whitish flashes in the tail, and a fairly long, slightly decurved bill. Face pattern is rather diffuse, but look for the whitish mustache and pale line behind the eye. Found in the understory of forest and edges in lowlands and foothills below around 1,100 m where it stays low, quickly zipping around flower patches.

A slim, medium-sized, gray-blue marine shag with yellow-orange feet and a long, slender bill. Breeding plumage is elegant with bright green facial skin, blue eye-rings, and two curved thick white stripes that extend from each eye down to the side of the neck. Non-breeding plumage is duller with crests absent, diminished but still visible neck stripe, and yellowish facial skin. Immatures are paler and browner, lacking head or neck markings. Endemic to New Zealand, where it is mainly found in the coastal waters around the South Island and parts of the North Island. Distinguished from Pitt Island Shag by neck stripe and by the lack of a purple patch in front of the eye. Other similar shags that overlap have pink feet, not yellow.