Appearance:

Long-tailed and slim bunting with striking head pattern and grey bill. Adult male unmistakable with lead-grey head and black eye-, crown- and moustache-stripe framing grey cheeks. Female with brownish tone to facial markings, not so pure grey breast and less rufous underparts. Both sexes with heavily streaked back, grey lesser coverts and white-tipped median and greater coverts. Rufous rump. Immature birds usually show emerging black eye- and moustache-stripe, and some black-tipped ear-coverts.

Sound:

Song variable, but usually distinct. Recalls stuttering Dunnock. Jerky, uneven thythm and tempo, with fairly large register and recognizible bunting timbre. May include mimicry. Alarm call a thin, short "seeeep", with clipped ending, similar to Cirl Bunting.

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

CC-photo:Oscar en Jolanda Balm, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Differs from Barn Swallow in all plumages by pale throat and black under tail coverts, which are visible at greater distance than the red rump. Rufous cheeks and collar. Underparts finely streaked, giving the bird a slightly "dirty" look from a distance, with less contrast to the upperparts than in Barn Swallow. Immature birds with short streamers and buff cheeks and rump. Build more compact than Barn Swallow, with shorter bill, rounded wings and slightly shorter streamers. Flight slower and with more frequent gliding.

Sound:

Less vocal than Barn Swallow. Song slower, and less energetic. Each phrase starts with a few staccato notes, leading to a short, twittering sequence of a few seconds length, with some drawn notes. Timbre is metallic and "broken", and quite diagnostic.

Song:

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

CC-sound:Jordi Calvet, Licence,Link.