African Swamphen

Small black-and-white eagle. Has a compact, powerful shape, and the hint of a crest. The upperparts are black, and there are heavy black markings on the underparts and evenly across the underwing. Found in thick woodland and forest. Soars frequently. Call is a loud, repeated “kwee-ya.” Similar to other hawk-eagles, but has more heavily marked underparts. Easily separated in flight, when Ayres’s Hawk-Eagle shows black barring across the entire underwing.

A huge, rare eagle, found in large swaths of mature lowland and foothill forests through much of Central and South America. Always rare and infrequently seen; any day with a Crested Eagle deserves a gold star. Light morph adults are dark gray above and whitish below with a gray head and breast and barred belly. Dark morph is very rare and is dark gray overall with white barring on belly. The similar Harpy Eagle (which does not have a dark morph) has a more contrasting black chest and lacks barring on the belly. Juvenile Crested Eagle is mostly white with darker wings; separated from Harpy Eagle by slightly smaller size and slimmer shape. Most often seen perched in the canopy of mature lowland forest, but occasionally soars.

Gregarious long-tailed inhabitant of grassy and scrubby areas, as well as bamboo stands and secondary growth, in mountains and foothills. Very similar in appearance to Vinous-throated Parrotbill (range overlap minimal) but with a brighter orange head, stronger and more noticeable throat streaking, and no warm orange or reddish tones in the wings. Moves about noisily through dense vegetation, twittering and chattering constantly.