Whitehead's Swiftlet

Tapaculos are small, plump, short-tailed, mostly gray birds that are as sneaky as mice. Silvery-fronted is the only tapaculo in its range, and the male has a distinctive whitish eyebrow. Also look for browner flanks with dark bars. Females don’t have the white eyebrow but are still distinctive in range because of the overall dark color and extremely furtive habits. Rarely seen well; stays on or near the ground in the forest understory. Listen for the song: a series of chips starting off fast, gradually getting slower and louder.

A dull gray-brown prinia-like warbler with a long and graduated tail, pale gray throat, ochre eyes, and pinkish legs. Pairs and family groups may join mixed-species flocks, foraging studiously through the lower branches of forest, undergrowth and bracken, forest edge, and occasionally pausing to chatter in unison. Often groups call a repeated high-pitched nagging “nyerk-nyerk-nyerk…” and other buzzing notes, always less guttural than babblers. Within its range the similar-looking Chirinda Apalis is grayer than Robert’s Warbler, with a white-tipped tail, different call, and a tendency to remain in the canopy.

A fairly large, common raptor of forest and more open wooded areas from the lowlands to the lower mountains. Dark brown with white speckles on the crown and upperparts, rufous-brown below with large white spots. Note the gray cheek and yellow eye. Differs from other raptors in its range by its bare yellow skin between the bill and eye, and in flight by its dark terminal band to the wings and tail. Often gives a whistled “weeeeeuuuu weu weu” in flight, or sometimes just a single note.