Brown Parrotbill

Small, long-legged owl of open grassy habitats. Appears brown at a distance with irregular white spotting. Yellow eyes. Typically found on the ground or perched on low fence posts or rocks. Active during day and night when it hunts mainly for insects and small mammals. When agitated, it stands erect and abruptly bows down. Nests in a burrow, often dug by a prairie dog or tortoise.

Cryptic heron of freshwater marshes in tropical lowlands. Usually in areas with tall grasses or rushes, rarely in open situations. When alarmed, often freezes motionless with neck upstretched. The neck is finely barred horizontally, but the body plumage is vertically streaked (not horizontally barred and banded, as on immature tiger-herons). Compare with immature night-herons, which have streaked, not finely barred necks.

Fairly large shorebird with bright yellow legs. Plumage is essentially identical to Lesser Yellowlegs: gray upperparts with white speckling, streaky neck, and white belly. Proportions are most important for identification. Greater is larger overall with longer, thicker, more upturned bill, longer neck, blockier head, and bigger chest. Forages actively on mudflats and in shallow pools and marshes, often in loose mixed flocks with Lesser Yellowlegs. Somewhat more likely to be found in larger, more open habitats than Lesser, but much overlap. Listen for strong, ringing “tew tew tew!” calls, louder than Lesser, and usually three or four notes instead of one or two (though Greater can also give single notes).