Levaillant's Cuckoo

A small, strikingly handsome green dove with contrastingly pale gray head and markings on the back and wings, a deep claret-colored belly patch, and a lemon-yellow underside to the tail. Unique within its limited range in the north Moluccas. Found in small groups in the canopy of forests and forest edges within the lowlands and foothills. Call is a “whooOOOo,” becoming louder as it advances.

Highly migratory flycatcher that breeds in central Argentina from around September through March, then disperses north to Bolivia and Paraguay, and occasionally wanders even farther. Male is glossy black with a silvery, black-tipped bill. He has a white on the underside of the wing that is usually hidden while perched. Female is brown and buff with white wingbars, cinnamon rump and tail base, and faint mottling on the breast. Very similar to White-winged Black-Tyrant; female is paler on the breast and belly, but males are virtually indistinguishable in the field. Inhabits stunted forest, scrub, and overgrown clearings.

A very slender gray-brown swift with a long, deeply forked tail that is often held closed, making it look needle-like and pointed. The erratic flight pattern, with frequent direction changes and rapid wingbeats on long, scythe-shaped wings, is distinctive. Less gregarious than other swifts; usually found in pairs or small flocks, and association with other swallows and swifts is usually only fleeting. Forages over a wide variety of habitats with palms, including savanna, coastal scrub, towns, villages, cultivated areas, forest edge, and clearings, from sea level up to 1800 meters of elevation, preferring lowlands. Nests and roosts in palms and uses its tiny legs with hook-like claws to cling to the undersides of fronds. Gives a high-pitched, metallic “tre-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit” call, solitarily or in unison with others. Separated from other swifts by its longer and thinner tail.