Rufous-bellied Tit

A fairly large, short-tailed bird of mid-mountane forest canopy in the Foja Mountains. Male is mainly black with white flanks, bronzy-scaled chest and 6 antennalike feathers projecting from the back of the head. Note the blue eye. The female is dull brown above with rufous in the wing, strongly-barred underparts and pale bands above and below the eye. The male dances at a terrestrial display court. There are no other similar birds-of-paradise that co-occur. Vocalizations include loud rasps, rattles or a single or double-note squeak “wi-dik!”.

Mid-sized green-backed woodpecker with intricate patterning. The crown is red in males, red and white-speckled black in females. Note the heavily streaked ear, bold spotting below, and plain white throat. Generally common and conspicuous in most types of savanna habitat. Usually in pairs, which give a loud duet of “keek” notes. Very similar to Bennett’s Woodpecker, but separated by the black-streaked ear. Also similar to Golden-tailed and Mombasa Woodpeckers, but easily separated by the spotted rather than striped underparts.

A rather plain medium-sized dove, mostly restricted to western Ecuador but also occurs in western Colombia and extreme northwestern Peru. Within range, the main confusion species is White-tipped Dove. Pallid Dove has notably darker and warmer brown upperparts that contrast more with the whitish underparts. Like other members of the genus, Pallid is typically found on the ground (or flushing up into the understory). It is most often seen walking on roads or trails, or flying across quickly. There are a few places where it visits feeders. Within its limited range, it is fairly common, but be careful to separate from the equally (or more) common White-tipped Dove. Listen for its low-pitched, single “hoo” call.