UKARUMPA, PNG — I went out into the yard again this morning. The children are on winter break, so the elementary school next door is quiet. I watched gray, jay-sized passerines hopping around on the roofs, railings, and steps of the empty buildings. They were quite plain with just a hint of a pale eyebrow, and they appeared to have a loud, whistled song.

Sacred Kingfishers, Willie-wagtails, and Pacific Swallows were all present again. And again, parrots flew over in small groups, flashing red. I’m sure they must be Rainbow Lorikeets, but I’m hoping for a good look before too long. They gather in noisy groups high in trees. I can hear them, but I haven’t been able to get near a treeful yet.

I saw movement low in one of the backyard’s larger trees, and it took me a moment to find the bird through the leaves. But when I did — wow. It was extravagantly adorned with large dark spots on its pale belly, a dark breast band, a bit of red at the base of the bill, and bright yellow skin around the eyes. I remembered seeing a page of colorful honeyeaters in my field guide, and later I looked up my find. Ornate Melidectes. Ornate, yes. But melidectes? This field guides needs diacritics.

The grayish passerines were a little more confusing at first. I decided they were either Gray Shrike-Thrushes or one of the drabber sorts of whistler. The distribution notes on the shrike-thrush left me somewhat uncertain, but the whistlers are small, under 6 inches. These birds were much larger than that, and they seemed right at home around buildings and power lines. “Adapts well to human settlements,” said the field guide. So shrike-thrush it was.

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