Piping Crow

Dark grayish thrasher with distinctive rufous undertail coverts. Bill long and strongly curved. Tail long and dark. Obvious dark line separating white mustache and white throat. Yellow eye. Secretive and uncommon, although perches conspicuously when singing. Found in brushy deserts. With a good view, easily distinguished from more common Curve-billed Thrasher by darker gray color and rufous undertail coverts. Listen for jumbled, rambling song.

No similar species in its range. Found in woodland, forest, matorral, and farmland with taller trees and hedges; often feeds on the ground. In some areas of central Chile nests in colonies in dirt bluffs, such as along roadsides; elsewhere usually nests in holes drilled in trees. Note the gray crown and plain buffy face (with dark whisker on male), big white rump patch, and yellow shafts to wing feathers (mainly visible in flight). Loud shrieking calls sometimes draw attention.

Streaky brown laughingthrush-like babbler with a very limited range. Note slightly downcurved dark bill and thick black moustache stripe. Very similar to closely related Chinese Babax, and once considered the same species, but ranges do not overlap. Found in open forest, forest edge, and tangles at 1200-2800 meters of elevation. Gives persistent inflected bubbling whistles: “puh-pooo-yih! puh-pooo-yih!”