Worstbird

New Zealand endemic diving duck. Widely but patchily distributed throughout North and South Islands; not found on Stewart Island, and no longer present on Chatham Islands. Unlike any other resident duck species. Compact and dark; floats on water with cork-like buoyancy, showing bath-toy duck silhouette. Forms large flocks, often congregating in sheltered areas near willows or reed beds. Spends a lot of time underwater, where it can travel considerable distances. Sexes alike but distinguishable. Male has dark black plumage, iridescent blue-green head and wings, and yellow iris. Female is duller brown with brown iris. Flies with very fast wingbeats, often just above the water’s surface. Vagrant Hardhead differs in its white iris, white undertail, and white “saddle” on bill.

A small, slim, fairly long-tailed buzzard. Gray and brown on the upperparts and rufous on the underparts. The white throat has a black line down the center. In flight, reveals distinctive rufous patches on the tops of the wings, with mostly white underwings. Found in a variety of savanna and grassland habitats. A migratory species that is often found in flocks, especially near fires. Best told from other buzzards by its structure, and in flight by its rufous wing panels. The call is a series of “ki” notes.

Stunning laughingthrush with a highly restricted distribution: limited to Wuyuan County in China’s Jiangxi Province. Brown-backed and yellow-bellied, with a black bandit’s mask and a bright blue crown lined with silver on the forehead. Breeds in preserved stands of very tall old trees near rural villages; disperses into mixed hill forest afterwards, where it tends to be more difficult to find. A colonial nester, unusual amongst laughingthrushes. Flock members communicate with one another with noisy high-pitched churrs.

Little-known medium-sized owlet-nightjar restricted to the mountainous Karimui Basin of eastern Papua New Guinea. Dark gray overall with fine barring; note chevrons on breast, thick black “eyebrows” that wrap around the head, and a black crown stripe extending down between the eyes; compare with other quite differently-marked montane owlet-nightjars, such as Mountain and Feline. Vocalizations poorly known.

An elongated, metallic-green-black bird with red feet and a long, decurved, red-orange bill. Juveniles have dark bills but are often in the company of adults. It flies heavily, with the long floppy, white-tipped tail dangling behind. Pairs and groups of up to 14 birds are highly social, occupying savanna, woodland, riverine forest, and gardens, where they nest and roost in natural cavities. Clambers in trees, probing bark and crevices for insects and small vertebrates. They communicate using a strong cackling chatter that sounds maniacal. The almost identical Grant’s and Violet woodhoopoes (with which it sometimes hybridizes) differ from Green Woodhoopoe only by having a coppery-purple (not glossy greenish) metallic sheen.