Black-masked Finch

Range-restricted weaver with a powerful dark bill. Male is predominantly yellow with a dark cheek patch. Female is streaky brown above and paler below; lacks the strong streaking and facial patterns of Streaked and Black-breasted Weavers. Female Finn’s is similar to female Baya Weaver, but note the darker coloration, lack of a pale brow stripe, and heavier, sharper-looking bill in female Finn’s. Inhabits open areas with scattered trees; favors wet areas. Colonial nester; males build ball-shaped nests, often in cotton trees.

A small songbird with a bold white eye-ring, dark eyes, a green back and forehead, a yellow throat and base to undertail, and a white belly. Groups and pairs roam woods, forest edges and patches, gardens, cultivated spaces, and scrub. Confined to lowlands of southeast Sulawesi. Occurs at lower elevations than Warbling White-eye, and differs from it in the dark eye and green forehead. Separated from Lemon-bellied White-eye by the white belly. Gives a slow-paced, high-pitched descending tinkling song, “chi-chiwit-chit-cher-cher.” Also high “zit” notes.

Large vireo, nearly identical in plumage to Red-eyed Vireo but slightly duller and browner. Drab olive-greenish above and white below with gray cap, white eyebrow, and brown eye. Telltale black whisker mark often difficult to see, but is diagnostic. Hooked bill is rather long for a vireo. Primarily a Caribbean species; exact extent of wintering range in South America is poorly known. Limited range in U.S.; breeds in scrubby mangrove forests in Florida. Can be difficult to spot in dense foliage, but listen for song: repeated two- or three-parted chirping phrases that are vaguely reminiscent of a more musical House Sparrow.