Calyptomenidae African and Green Broadbills

These mid-sized passerines, united by their large heads, short legs, small feet, and eponymous broad bills, are of two distinct types. The green broadbills, residents of Asian forests, are known to associate closely with fruiting trees. Away from these favored foods, these birds are hard to see, their bright green plumage melding into the well-lit green of middle and upper levels of forest, and their quiet and stationary demeanor seldom giving them away. Profuse velvety forehead plumes, almost obscuring their bills, help distinguish them from their naked-billed African cousins, though the contrast goes much further: the African birds are active insectivores with dull-colored plumages that are light below and accented with streaks and patches of earth tones.