Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Weaver

Slender and streaked pipit. Feeds on the ground like other pipits, but perches readily in trees or bushes when singing, or alights in tree at end of parachuting song flight. As the name suggests, usually associated with trees (on breeding grounds), but also found in agricultural areas and grassy scrub in winter. All pipits look rather similar and are best identified to species by combination of habitat and voice: Tree Pipit call a high, shrill, buzzy "tzzz"; song more melodic and varied than Meadow Pipit song. ​

Rare and declining, but still fairly abundant at its main wintering grounds at Poyang Lake, in China’s Jiangxi Province. Adult is unmistakable with all-white plumage, save for a crimson face and black wingtips. Juveniles are whitish, with a light brown head, neck, back, and wings. Typically found around lake edges and fields, where it forages in small to medium-sized groups, primarily for plant matter and invertebrates.

A sparrow-sized dark warbler with an often scruffy-looking, graduated tail. Has dark chestnut-brown upperparts, a whitish eyebrow, a distinct white throat, and dull grayish underparts. Formerly grouped with Sulawesi Bush Warbler and Buru Bush Warbler under the name “Chestnut-backed Bush Warbler.” A secretive inhabitant of montane and foothill forest, often creeping around on or near the ground. Darker above and dingier below than Gray’s and Middendorff's Grasshopper-Warblers, and also has a clean-cut white throat; almost identical to Buru and Sulawesi Bush Warblers, but ranges do not overlap. Song is a dry, buzzy series of notes: “tzit-tzit-tzeet.”