Appearance:

Long-legged and compact plover with short rear-end and thin, black bill. Breast-band (or rather breast patches) usually incomplete and broken, and narrow. Leaves an overall pale impression compared to congeners. The white forehead in adults reaches all the way to the bill. Breeding male with rufous neck patch, distinct black facial markings and black breast-band. Female more diffusely coloured in brown, with slightly darker breast-band. Immature even duller. Tal shorter than Ringed Plover with substantially more white on edges. Legs darker than congeners (blackish when breeding), but may be greenish in immature birds. Can be identified by profile alone with some experience, by combination of long legs, short and compact body and flat forehead. Lifts legs well clear of ground when running, giving it's rapid gait a bicycling feel.

Sound:

Contact calls more frequently heard than song, with two distinct calls. A short and soft ascending whistle resembling chiff-chaff is often heard from the ground, and a hard and rolling "prrrrt" if flushed (or just a short "tip"). Song a hard and rolling sequence resembling Dunlin song, but less nasal and more pulsating.

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:

Medium sized diving duck. Male with white sides and light grey,finely mottled back. Female mostly brown with prominent white feathering at base of bill (more white than most female Tufted Ducks), and often a pale cheek patch (sometimes missing in winter plumage). Large rounded head with no hint of tuft. Bill grey with much smaller, narrow, black nail than Tufted Duck. Wings with similar wing stripe as Tufted. Floats low in water.

Sound:

Male call carries only a few meters: a whistling "po-ho" last syllable slowly descending. Female calls with harsh "harr-harrr-harrr".

Female:

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

Sounds:Recorded by Patrik Åberg,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license