Mountain Robin-Chat

Slender, ornate bird found in low, scraggly forest and adjacent overgrown clearings. Handsomely patterned in shades of gray, orange and white, with a black “mutton chop” beard bordered by a white eyebrow. Female and immature are slightly browner than adult male. Song, often given from an exposed perch, is a quick up-and-down series of sweet whistles repeated every few seconds. When not singing, it tends to skulk inside dense vegetation where it is hard to see.

A beautiful ghostlike bird that materializes in large numbers during rice harvest and bamboo seeding events, and promptly vanishes afterwards. Male is leaf green with a blue face and reddish belly. Female has a more faded blue face and lacks the red belly. Both sexes have a point-tipped tail, but the male’s is substantially longer. Forages in flocks, often dangling off of bamboo tips or seeding rice heads, giving high thin “tseep” notes.

Common, rather large dark petrel of the Southern Ocean; regular migrant north into Humboldt Current. Usually looks wholly blackish with a pale, ivory-colored bill—the white chin is often just a few feathers and frequently is difficult to see in the field, although it can be more extensive, especially on Atlantic and Indian Ocean birds. White-chinned is obviously larger than dark-billed Sooty Shearwater and much smaller than giant-petrels, which have huge pale bills. Pale bill tip distinguishes White-chinned from similar Westland and Parkinson’s Petrels, which have dark bill tip.