Common Potoo

The common potoo, is one of seven species of bird within the genus Nyctibius. It is notable for its large, yellow eyes and comically wide mouth. Potoos are nocturnal and are related to nightjars and frogmouths. They lack the characteristic bristles around the mouths of true nightjars. It has a haunting melancholic song, dropping in both pitch and volume. When seized, this bird produces a squeaky sound, not unlike that of a crow. This call greatly differs from that of much deeper and more dramatic northern potoo. Common potoos are 34–38 cm long with mottled red-brown, white, black, and grey cryptic plumage. This disruptive coloration allows the potoo to camouflage into branches. The sexes appear similar, and cannot be distinguished upon observation. 

The eyes can appear as giant black dots with a small yellow ring, or as giant yellow irises with small pupils due to voluntary pupil constriction. The potoo has two or three slits in the eyelid so that it can see when the eyelids are closed; these notches are always open. The upper and lower eyelids can be moved independently and rotated so that the bird may adjust its field of vision. The common potoo has an unusually wide mouth with a tooth in its upper mandible for foraging purposes. common potoo is found in Trinidad & Tobago and every mainland South American country except Chile, though it has been recorded in that country as a vagrant. There it ranges from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean. N. g. panamensis is found from eastern Nicaragua south through Costa Rica and Panama and west of the Andes from northwestern Venezuela through Colombia and Ecuador into northwestern Peru.

The common potoo is a resident breeder in open woodlands and savannah. It avoids cooler montane regions; it is rarely observed over 1,900 m above mean sea level even in the hottest parts of its range. It tends to avoid arid regions but was recorded in the dry Caribbean plain of Colombia in April 1999. It has many populations in the gallery forest-type environment around the Uruguayan-Brazilian border. A bit further south, where the amount of wood-versus grassland is somewhat lower, it is decidedly rare, and due west, in the Entre Ríos Province of Argentina with its abundant riparian forest, it is likewise not common.

The birds at the southern end of their range may migrate short distances northwards in winter. The potoo sits with its eyes open and its bill horizontal while awake, but if disturbed, assumes an alert “freezing” posture (flexibility). This entails sticking its beak vertically up in the air, closing its eyelids (through which it can still see via slits), and remaining still. If disturbed by larger animals, it may break its camouflage and try to chase the threat away. 

If disturbed by a human being, its behaviors can be quite variable - quickly flying away, intimidation via beak-opening, or remaining still even when being touched. Common potoos are monogamous. After mating, the female lays a single white egg with lilac spots directly into the depression in a tree limb. Parents normally care for one egg at a time. The male and female alternate brooding the egg while the other forages for insects. They divide brooding time evenly.

Carolina Wren

The Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) is a common species of wren that is a resident in the eastern half of the United States of America, the extreme south of Ontario, Canada, and the extreme northeast of Mexico. Severe winters restrict the northern limits of their range while favorable weather conditions lead to a northward extension of their breeding range. Their preferred habitat is in dense cover in forest, farm edges and suburban areas. This wren is the state bird of South Carolina.

There are seven recognized subspecies across the range of these wrens and they differ slightly in song and appearance. The birds are generally inconspicuous, avoiding the open for extended periods of time.

Carolina Wren is about 12.5 to 14 cm long, with a 29 cm of wingspan and a weight of about 18 to 23 g. Carolina wren is a fairly large wren; the second largest in the United States species after the cactus wren. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 5.4 to 6.4 cm; the tail is 4.5 to 5.6 cm.  The sexual dimorphism is slight with males being larger than their mates.

There are several differences among the subspecies. For T. l. ludovicianus, the crown is rich brown that appears more chestnut-colored on its rump and uppertail-coverts. Shoulders and greater coverts are a rich brown, with a series of small white dots on the lesser primary coverts. The secondary coverts are rich brown with a darker brown barring on both webs; the bars on the primaries are on the outerwebs only, but darker and more noticeable. The rectrices are brown with 18 to 20 bars that span across the tail. 

The white supercilious streak borders thinly with a black above and below, and extends above and beyond its shoulders. The ear coverts are speckled gray and grayish-black. Its chin and throat are grey that becomes buff on its chest, flank and belly, though the latter two are of a warmer color. 

The underwing coverts sport a grayish buff color. Its iris is reddish-brown, the upper mandible is lemon-colored and paler at the base and lower mandible. The legs are flesh-colored. Survival rates differ by region, as roughly 90 percent of the Carolina wrens died within 10 years. The easiest species to confuse with the Carolina wren is Bewick's wren, which differs in being smaller but with a longer tail, grayer-brown above and whiter below. 

The Carolina and white-browed wrens differ from the house wren in being larger, with a decidedly longer bill and hind toe; their culmen has a notch behind the tip. Carolina wrens adapt to various habitats. Natural habitats include various types of woodland such as oak hardwoods and mixed oak-pine woodlands, ash and elm woods, hickory-oak woodlands with a healthy amount of tangled undergrowth. The preferred habitats are riparian forest, brushy edges, swamps, overgrown farmland, and suburban yards with abundant thick shrubs and trees, and parks.

Carolina wrens sing year round and at any point during the daytime, with the exception of performing during the most harsh weather conditions. Males alone sing, and have a repertoire of at least twenty different phrase patterns and on average, thirty two. One of these patterns is repeated for several minutes, and although the male's song can be repeated up to twelve times, the general number of songs range from three to five times in repetition. 

While singing, the tail of the birds is pointed downward. Some general vocalizations have been transcribed as teakettle-teakettle-teakettle and cheery-cheery-cheery. Various descriptions of the teakettle song include whee-udel, whee-udel, whee-udel, che-wortel, che-wortel and túrtee-túrtee-túrtee and familiar names and phrases such as sweet heart, sweet heart, come to me, come to me, sweet William, and Richelieu, Richelieu. Males are capable of increasing their repertoire through song learning, but due to their sedentary nature and territorial defense habits, the song learning must occur within the first three months of life. Their songs can be confused with the Kentucky warbler. 

The song patterns are similar, but the warbler's songs are described as richer, with more ringing and a hurried pace. Carolina wrens spend the majority of their time on or near the ground searching for food, or in tangles of vegetation and vines. They also probe bark crevices on lower tree levels, or pick up leaf-litter in order to search for prey. Their diet consists of invertebrates, such as beetles, true bugs, grasshoppers, katydids, spiders, ants, bees, and wasps. Small lizards and tree frogs also make up the carnivorous portion of their diet. 

Vegetable matter, such as fruit pulp and various seeds, makes up a small percentage of their diet. In the northern portion of their range, they frequent bird feeders. Carolina wrens are both genetically and socially monogamous and will usually mate for life. Mate changing is rare,[15] and there has been one possible observation of polygamy. During the winter season, males are more responsible for guarding the territory. Females vary in succeeding to maintain winter territories without a mate. 

Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) Song

The northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is a bird in the genus Cardinalis; it is also known colloquially as the redbird, common cardinal, red cardinal, or just cardinal (which was its name prior to 1985). It can be found in southeastern Canada, through the eastern United States from Maine to Minnesota to Texas, New Mexico, southern Arizona, southern California, and south through Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. 

It is also an introduced species in a few locations such as Bermuda and Hawaii. Its habitat includes woodlands, gardens, shrublands, and wetlands. 

The northern cardinal is a mid-sized songbird with a body length of 21–23 cm (8.3–9.1 in). It has a distinctive crest on the head and a mask on the face which is black in the male and gray in the female. The male is a vibrant red, while the female is a reddish olive color. The northern cardinal is mainly granivorous, but also feeds on insects and fruit. 

The male behaves territorially, marking out his territory with song. During courtship, the male feeds seed to the female beak-to-beak. A clutch of three to four eggs is laid, and two to four clutches are produced each year. It was once prized as a pet, but its sale as a cage bird was banned in the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

White-browed wagtail

The white-browed wagtail or large pied wagtail (Motacilla maderaspatensis) is a medium-sized bird and is the largest member of the wagtail family. They are conspicuously patterned with black above and white below, a prominent white brow, shoulder stripe, and outer tail feathers. White-browed wagtails are native to South Asia, common near small water bodies, and have adapted to urban environments where they often nest on rooftops. The specific name is derived from the Indian city of Madras (now Chennai).