Carruthers's Cisticola

Large, stocky bird. Green-and-chestnut plumage can look mostly black under some conditions and at a distance. Note size, yellow tail, and deep, rowing wingbeats. Reliably distinguished from other green-plumaged oropendolas by pale green-and-red bill. Found in rainforest canopy and edges as well as along rivers, in villages, and in savanna woodlands. Groups move noisily through the forest canopy in search of fruit and flowers. Large flocks are sometimes seen commuting between roosting and feeding areas. Distinctive song of male can be heard at a great distance.

A chunky, thick-billed sparrow-sized songbird. Male is uniform gray above with a black head and a conspicuous white throat patch bordered below by a thick black chest band. Underparts are dull whitish. Female lacks black on head. Juvenile resembles a browner female, but is boldly streaked below. Singles and pairs can be found in upper levels of savanna woodlands, mangroves, and plantations. Differs from Black-headed Whistler in having a clear-cut white throat. Song is a slurred “soooweet” or “weet-weet-weet…” ending with either a whipping note, or a short jumble of strident notes.

A slender, active unstreaked warbler with a long graduated tail that is sometimes cocked. It is mouse-brown above and pale below, with tawny flanks and a distinctive pale eyebrow. Pairs and small groups patrol rank grass, riverine scrub, and thickets in savanna, where they are often on the ground or in the lower levels of vegetation. The species sings a strident “stiiikk” note repeatedly 6-15 times before pausing, but it may sing incessantly for minutes, and it also has a tinnier “stip-stip-stip” call; tone and pitch vary geographically. The similar Pale Prinia is more washed out with whitish flanks, and the very similar-looking River Prinia is local, restricted to riverine fringes in the Sahel, and has a sweeter higher-pitched song.