Appearance:

Large, fairly characteristic lark. Wings blackish underneath with conspicuous white trailing edge, obvious in flight. Outer tail-feathers white. Perched birds easiest identified by large black breast patch (though variable in size and shape), and very deep bill. Broad, buff supercilium and eye-ring. Leaves a robust and compact impression, with its broad wings, short tail and heavy bill. Stance usually upright when perched. Flight undulating, but less hesitant than Skylark.

Sound:

Contact call a diagnostic, ringing, resonant trill; "krrretlee". Song is similar to Skylark, but slower, louder and with more mimicry. Best recognized from the interspersed contact calls and other dry trills.

Song:

Distribution:

Xeno-canto: map

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Appearance:

All black plumage, red legs and long, curved, red bill. Bill of juveniles yellowish-brown and shorter. Though never as pure yellow as in Alpine Chough, and more curved. Easily confused with Alpine Chough at a distance where both species occur, but note broader, more fingered wings, shorter and squarer tail with broader base and different calls. Flight extremely acrobatic.

Sound:

Call: A rapidly descending "keeaaaw", sometimes resembling a coarse jackdaw. At other times a more mewing sound, with similar coarseness, or a sharper, descending "kieew". Easily distinguished from the thin, trilling, whistling sounds of Alpine Chough.

Contact call:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC