Appearance:

Small dabbling duck. Males unmistakable with broad white supercilium and high contrast between the dark mottled breast and the lighter flanks (visible at considerable distance). Female mottled in light brown colours with typical supercilium and contrasting eye-stripe. White spot at base of bill. Throat much lighter than in Teal. Both sexes with dark and fairly long bill. Head gives a square impression due to the flat crown. Speculum in flight shows narrow white edges, lacking Teal's broad front edge. Agile flight, but lacks the twists of Teals.

Sound:

Male display sound a characteristic dry rattling, like the sound of running fingernails along the teeth of a comb. A bit similar to Ptarmigan. Also heard at other times than when courting. Female: like female Teal, but typically a bit deeper and shorter calls.

Display-call male:

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:

Small, dark grebe with bright yellow gape, short neck and bill. Winter plumage paler than summer, with chestnut flanks, neck and cheeks, giving much less contrast between upper- and underparts than in Slavonian Grebe. Fluffy, pale stern. No crest or tufts/tippets and no white markings on wings.

Sound:

Relatively vocal compared to many other grebes. Call; sometimes a single quite clear high pitched "dydlylyyt". More often combined into longer phrases with harsher quality, oscillating like laughter and travelling up and down in pitch in agitated motion. Reminiscent of female Cuckoo.

Display:

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