This relative of the more northerly White-winged Dove is the bird of Lima, almost invariably present in trees, on sidewalks and roofs, and flying high overhead in flocks containing dozens of birds. Its bare orbital skin is an intense blue color, and unlike its cousin, its iris is dark.

I saw a rare rainfall on my third morning in Lima. Lima is in the Sechura Desert and in most months records its precipitation in fractions of a millimeter. As the water fell, doves all around the neighborhood extended their wings to let drops fall on their feathers, as I’d once seen a Mourning Dove do at home.

Eared Doves are also common in Lima, as they are throughout much of South America. The race in Lima is rather like Mourning Doves with shorter tails, different voices, and some plumage differences.

Vermilion Flycatchers are also fairly common in Lima. Some are brightly colored like the birds in the southern United States, but some birds (like this one) are all-dark sooty morphs.

Lima has two blackbirds — the Shiny Cowbird (female illustrated here) and the Scrub Blackbird. Female Shiny Cowbirds are easy to identify, but male cowbirds and Scrub Blackbirds are tricky at first. Scrub Blackbirds have longer bills and heads; cowbirds have shorter, more conical bills and a short, round head. There are other differences too, but the jizz is fairly easy to call with a few days’ practice.

Tiny Southern Beardless Tyrannulets win the cuteness award; they’re smaller than some hummingbirds.