Meet the world’s animals.

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• Brown Firefinch Lagonosticta nitidula

  

  This very small finch can be hard to see in dense thickets. Southern African records are associated with riverine vegetation.

• White-fronted Black Chat Pentholaea albifrons

  The pool's older generic combination Pentholaea albifrons is updated here to Oenanthe albifrons. The appearance account is for the nominate race, while Senegal is within the range of a different form, frontalis.

• Azure Kingfisher Ceyx azureus

  The Azure Kingfisher is a small kingfisher with blue to violet upperparts and orange sides to the neck. It dives from a waterside perch to catch prey.

• Puerto Rican Nightjar Antrostomus noctitherus

  The Puerto Rican Nightjar is endemic to Puerto Rico and lives in dry forests in the southwest. Its mottled brown plumage helps it blend into leaf litter.

• Koepcke's Screech Owl Megascops koepckeae

  This small owl lives in the Peruvian Andes. Its iris is yellow, and plumage varies from mostly grey to brown in some populations.

• Buru Cuckooshrike Coracina fortis

  The Buru Cuckooshrike is a grey forest bird from Buru Island, with black markings around the eye and on the chin.

• Transvolcanic Jay Aphelocoma ultramarina

  The Transvolcanic Jay lives in highland forests along Mexico's central volcanic belt. Its blue-gray plumage and flocks of several to a few dozen birds are characteristic.

• Spotless Crake Zapornia tabuensis

  In New Zealand, this small rail hides among dense wetland vegetation. Its red eyes stand out, and it is most active at dim times of day.

• Violet-backed Starling Cinnyricinclus leucogaster

  The male has a shining violet back while the female has brown plumage; the birds eat fruit and insects in trees.

• Yellow Bishop Euplectes capensis

  This weaver occurs widely in parts of southern, central, and eastern Africa. Males change in appearance between breeding and non-breeding plumages, and the birds eat grass seeds as well as insects.

• Wandering Tattler Tringa incana

  The Wandering Tattler has heavily barred gray-and-white underparts in breeding plumage and a plain gray chest outside the breeding season. It breeds beside northern rivers and moves to rocky Pacific shores and islands.

• Baudo Oropendola Psarocolius cassini

  This large oropendola lives in the lowlands of Chocó, northwestern Colombia. Records place it in humid forest and forest edge up to about 365 m.

• Sao Tome Shorttail Amaurocichla bocagii

  This small bird occurs only on São Tomé Island. The IUCN assessment describes forested river valleys as its main habitat and notes some records in montane areas.

• Cave Swallow Petrochelidon fulva

  This swallow catches insects in flight and nests at cave entrances and under bridges. Its chestnut rump and forehead help distinguish it from other swallows.

• Bates's Sunbird Cinnyris batesi

  Bates's Sunbird is a small sunbird of African forests and forest edges. Its dark olive upperparts contrast with a pale eyebrow and yellow-edged wings.

• Yellow-throated Bush Tanager Chlorospingus flavigularis

  This tanager is recorded in humid eastern Andean forests of Peru and Ecuador. The source describes the nominate subspecies.

• Straight-billed Earthcreeper Ochetorhynchus ruficaudus

  This earthcreeper inhabits dry highlands of southwestern Bolivia. Accounts describe its long, nearly straight bill and ground-foraging on sparsely vegetated, rocky slopes.

• Rufous-rumped Lark Pinarocorys erythropygia

  This lark of tropical Africa lives in open, often dry country and searches the ground for invertebrates.

• White-tipped Sicklebill Eutoxeres aquila

  The White-tipped Sicklebill inhabits humid forests from Central America to north-western South America. Its strongly downcurved bill helps it take nectar from Heliconia flowers.

• Kloss's Leaf-warbler Phylloscopus ogilviegranti

  This leaf-warbler ranges from southern China through Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. It is recorded in forest at 900–2,550 m during the breeding season.

• Black-banded Plover Charadrius thoracicus

  This plover is restricted to Madagascar. A bold black band crosses its breast, and it searches for food on coastal mud and around saline lagoons.

• Pantepui Thrush Turdus murinus

  The Pantepui Thrush is a dull grayish-brown thrush of the Guiana Shield highlands. It is restricted to middle and upper elevations on tepuis and nearby mountains.

• Bay-breasted Warbler Setophaga castanea

  This warbler has rich red-brown and creamy buff in summer, then becomes mostly green and white in fall. It searches lower branches of conifers on its breeding grounds.

• Spot-winged Antshrike Pygiptila stellaris

  The Spot-winged Antshrike forages in Amazonian forest. Males and females have different plumage, and the bird may move through the midstory and canopy with mixed-species flocks.