Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,636 · Stories: 19,540

• South African Cliff Swallow Petrochelidon spilodera

  

  The South African Cliff Swallow has a glossy blue-black back and a squared tail. The reddish-brown rump and chest vary with plumage condition. It migrates between southern African breeding areas and wintering grounds in the Congo Basin.

• Andean Pygmy Owl Glaucidium jardinii

  The Andean Pygmy Owl is a small owl. A Bogotá bird guide notes that it may also be seen by day; it has brown plumage with bars and spots and perches in shaded trees.

• Spotted Rail Pardirallus maculatus

  The Spotted Rail occurs locally in marshes, wet savannas, and rice fields from Mexico and the Greater Antilles south to Argentina. In Jamaica, breeding evidence was reported after a long gap in records.

• Black-faced Antbird Myrmoborus myotherinus

  The Black-faced Antbird lives in humid Amazonian forests. Males are bluish grey and black, while females are brown with a black mask, so the sexes have different plumage. It forages in the middle and upper canopy for insects and other arthropods.

• Sichuan Leaf-warbler Phylloscopus forresti

  This leaf-warbler breeds in Sichuan. Its yellow crown stripe, yellow eyebrow, and pale yellow rump are among the field marks described in a specialist field guide.

• Southern Black Tit Melaniparus niger

  The Southern Black Tit lives in dry open woodland and scrub in southern Africa. It searches among branches and leaves for small invertebrates.

• Snow-capped Manakin Lepidothrix nattereri

  The Snow-capped Manakin lives in lowland humid forest in Brazil and Bolivia. Males are marked by white on the crown, nape, and rump.

• Grey Phalarope Phalaropus fulicarius

  It is reddish in breeding plumage and gray and white in winter. It breeds in the Arctic and spends winter on the open ocean.

• Buff-faced Scrubwren Aethomyias perspicillatus

  A field guide to the Mimika region of Papua records this species under its older name, Sericornis perspicillatus. The account describes olive upperparts and a pale buff-orange face, and records it in shrubs and the midstory at montane forest edges.

• Square-tailed Kite Lophoictinia isura

  This kite has a white face with black streaks and a large white patch at the base of its long wings. It hunts small birds, especially nestlings, and insects in the canopy.

• Robust Woodpecker Campephilus robustus

  This large woodpecker occurs in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. It uses humid forests, including Araucaria forest, and males and females differ in cheek markings.

• Common Squirrel-cuckoo Piaya cayana

  This cuckoo ranges from northeastern Mexico to northern Argentina in the tropics. It moves through trees with its long tail as it searches for insects.

• Rufescent Tiger Heron Tigrisoma lineatum

  The Rufescent Tiger-Heron has a long rufous neck and a streaked throat, and waits for prey by the water. Adult and juvenile plumages differ greatly.

• Javan White-eye Zosterops flavus

  A small white-eye of coastal Java and Madura, it also has an isolated coastal population in southern Borneo. It uses habitats such as wetlands, mangroves and coastal scrub.

• Puno Antpitta Grallaria sinaensis

  The Puno Antpitta is recorded in the highlands of Peru’s Puno Department and at a few sites in western La Paz, Bolivia. It searches for insects close to the ground in dense vegetation.

• Iago Sparrow Passer iagoensis

  The Iago Sparrow lives in towns and dry savannas of the Cape Verde archipelago. It is accustomed to people and may visit café terraces.

• Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone corvina

  The Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher is a small bird naturally found on La Digue in Seychelles. It lives in forest, and birds have also been translocated to other islands.

• Flat-billed Kingfisher Todiramphus recurvirostris

  The Flat-billed Kingfisher lives on Samoa. It uses dry and moist tropical forest, coasts, farmland, and urban areas, searching for food on the ground and in forests and eating invertebrates and lizards.

• Chestnut-throated Apalis Apalis porphyrolaema

  At Mau Narok in Kenya, this small warbler was recorded in forest, with fledged young remaining in family groups for a time.

• Koepcke's Hermit Phaethornis koepckeae

  Koepcke's Hermit is a hummingbird that uses the forest understory. It follows regular routes between flowers for nectar and also eats small arthropods.

• Yellow-wattled Bulbul Poliolophus urostictus

  This Philippine bulbul forages for fruit along forest edges and in young woodland.

• Seven-colored Tanager Tangara fastuosa

  This tanager has noticeable violet and orange plumage. It eats fruit and arthropods and also uses forest edges and gardens.

• Bridled Sparrow Peucaea mystacalis

  This bird lives in scrub and grassland in central Mexico. It has a gray head with white lines around the brow and eye, and eats seeds and small animals.

• Black-throated Blue Warbler Setophaga caerulescens

  The male has a blue-black back and black throat, while the female is olive-brown. It breeds in eastern North America and winters in the Caribbean.