Appearance:

Small and neat finch with red forehead patch, black bib and base of bill, yellow bill with dark tip and buff wing-bars. Male with pinkish or red chest. Rump streaked, and under tail-coverts with dark centre (as opposed to Arctic Redpoll). Base colour of plumage varies between different subspecies from warm brown to greyish. S.sp. cabaret (often treated as an own species: Lesser Redpoll) has brownish plumage tones, and is smaller than flammea (Common Redpoll). Juveniles lacks red forehead, has less contrasting head markings and more prominent streaking than adults. Underparts with darker streaking, and lores and chin darker than juvenile Linnet and Twite. Dancing flight, with deeper undulations than Linnet.

Sound:

Contact call diagnostic. A chattering "Chutt-utt-utt", with a more metallic and nasal timbre than Linnet and Twite. Other sound includes plaintive call mostly given when perched. Uttered as a continuous sound, but with a disyllabic feel. First part ascending slowly, then faster before it is cut off "tsooeet". Song an improvised chattering on various contact calls with no apparent phrasing.

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

Appearance:

A slim, medium large thrush attached to rocky terrain, mountains or concrete buildings. Differs from Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrust, Monticola saxatilis in all plumages by long bill, and long, dark tail (not rufous). Bill and tail gives the bird an elongated appearance and profile. The tail reaches far behind the primaries when perched. Male unmistakable if seen well, but note that the bluish tones appears dark grey in unfavorable light. First winter males are barred underneath but gradually turns bluer and more evenly coloured. Immatures and females look alike with grey-brown upperparts and barred underparts, and are generally darker in throat and breast than M. saxatilis.

Sound:

Alarm call consists of short, soft whistles. Often two notes in sequence, the second one higher ("pjuu-eee"), and sometimes followed by series of dry "check" sounds. The song is a beautiful, melodious fluting which can be very difficult to distinguish from M. saxatilis. It generally has a more melancholic feel, with more tremulous fluting than the latter, with less lingering in the higher register. The structure is variable and simple, but sometimes more elaborate in song-flight or when including mimicry. Both sexes sing, but male most actively.

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