Donaldson Smith's Sparrow-Weaver

An East Asian teal-like duck. Males are distinctive, with an iridescent head that flashes green and copper, a silvery body with distinct scalloping, extremely long curved tertials, long pale scapulars, and a triangular white throat patch outlined in dark green. Brownish females resemble female Gadwall but have a dark bill. Breeds in northern interior marshes and winters on rivers, lakes, and coastal wetlands, often in flocks with other ducks.

Large, noisy wren of pine-oak and conifer forests in mountains of south-central Mexico; endemic. Usually found in groups, foraging low in brushy tangles or high in tall trees. Clambers along branches and pokes into bromeliads, often in mixed-species feeding flocks with orioles and woodcreepers. Plumage is distinctive, with boldly spotted breast and boldly banded back, wings, and tail. Juveniles (seen in summer) are very different, with streaked buffy back and plain whitish breast.

Medium-sized, dark tetraka with pale yellow underparts and a wide eye-stripe. Madagascar endemic of middle- and high-elevation rainforest. Found on or near the ground, often in patches of bamboo or other thick tangles. Common calls are a short silvery trill and an explosive series of “sit” notes. Separated from all other tetrakas by its yellow eye-stripe.