Vanikoro Monarch

A lively little rufous songbird with a conspicuously long tail that is often cocked and fanned. Upperside is rufous except for darker brown band at end of tail. Head is earth-brown with a rufous brow and a striking white throat. Black chest patch contrasts with buff underparts. Pairs or single birds regularly attend mixed-species flocks, mainly in forests of foothills and mountains, but also within lowlands. Restricted to Taliabu Island, where it is the only fantail. Song is a sequence of descending tinkling notes, followed by tremulous notes up and down the scale. Call is a low-pitched “chep.”

Medium-sized shorebird with bright yellow legs. Plumage is essentially identical to Greater Yellowlegs: gray upperparts with white speckling, streaky neck, and white belly. Proportions are most important for identification. Lesser is smaller overall with shorter, narrower, straighter bill, shorter neck, more rounded head, and smaller chest. Forages actively on mudflats and in shallow pools and marshes, often in loose mixed flocks with Greater Yellowlegs. Somewhat more likely to be found in smaller, marshier habitats than Greater, but much overlap. Listen for soft, whistled “tew” calls, typically only one or two notes, unlike the stronger series of notes from Greater.

A common patroller above reedbeds, flying with wings raised in a shallow V-shape. Adult males are predominantly pale gray with a dark-speckled head, blackish back with pale-edged feathers, and black wingtips. Adult females are brown and streaky and lack the bold white rump patch of the similar female Hen Harrier. Juveniles are brown with paler heads and breasts. Extremely similar to Western Marsh-Harrier, but range overlap is minimal.