Andean Avocet

Rare, crested eagle of middle- to upper-elevation cloud forest. Adult’s plumage is mostly black with chestnut on breast and belly. In flight, note large white patches in wings and at base of tail, and chestnut in underwing. Juvenile is amazingly different with dark back, white underparts, and strongly banded wings and tail. Juvenile similar to pale morph Crested Eagle, but wing and tail banding is thinner, and lacks barring on breast and belly. Most likely encountered on sunny mornings, when single birds or pairs may soar high over forested ridges.

A small, brown, nondescript swift with a shallow tail fork. Upperparts are darker brown than the underparts, while the rump is marginally paler. Very similar otherwise to the more widespread Asian Palm-Swift, except that Indian Swiftlet lacks the latter’s longer, deeply forked tail. Mostly seen in the hills, where it breeds in caves, but can disperse to the plains during monsoons or immediately after summer showers, hawking insects in mixed flocks of swifts. 

Very uncommon large, long-billed shorebird, nearly the size of a godwit, found in coastal mudflats and open marshes. Breeding adult extensively brick-red below, dark and strongly marked with brick-red tones above. Nonbreeding adult grayish brown with a duller, browner bill. Juvenile dark above, with broad gold feather edges, pale below, washed with warm buff or gold tones and with neat dark stipples and chevron-shaped marks. Blackish legs distinguish Asian from Long-billed Dowitcher, which has yellowish-green legs. Blackish or brownish bill of adult Asian differs from bicolored bill of godwits; note that bill of juvenile Asian has pale base.