Javan Scimitar-Babbler

A bulky, iridescent bird clad in deep purple, blue, green, and olive washed with pink. It clambers acrobatically through riverine woodland and savanna thickets. In flight it explodes from the canopy with distinctive deep red panels in the wings. It produces a distinctive croaking “khoh-khoh-khoh-khoh….” that gets progressively louder before suddenly stopping. The similar Ross’s Turaco differs from Purple-crested Turaco by being darker overall and having a red crest and yellow face.

Large trogon with a red belly and stout yellow bill. The female has a gray head and chest, while the male is emerald green with a white band separating the chest from its red belly. Note the plain dark gray undertail. Found in canopy and middle levels of lowland forest, mainly in the Amazon basin of northern South America but also in eastern Panama, northern Colombia, and western Venezuela. The similar Slaty-tailed Trogon has a red bill and males lack the white chest band seen on Black-tailed Trogons. Listen for slow series of low-pitched “coop” calls.

A large, chunky, strong-flying swift that is gray-brown and appears scaled on the underparts. The darker tail and flight feathers contrast with the body. It is resident and nomadic in arid habitats, preferring rocky cliffs, gorges, and hills, where it is often the most frequently encountered swift. It is paler, more slender, and narrower-winged than other co-occurring large dark swifts.