Appearance:

Large dabbling duck. In all plumages distinguished from other dabbling ducks by its slim neck and elegancy. Male with dark brown head, white breast and lower neck, with white wedges extending upwards on side of neck. Long, pin-like tail. Female mostly brown, wattled plumage, with longer tail than other dabbling duck females. Both sexes with bluish bill. Speculum dark green with broad white rear edge. Front edge buff in males. Edges more prominent in flight than the actual speculum. Flight pattern closer to Wigeon than Mallard.

Sound:

Female: similar to Mallards coarse laughing sound, but with a more emphasized first "haaa", and a more silent accelerating subsequent "laugh". Male: Pleasant, resonant "plop" similar to Teal, but lower pitched, richer, mellower and not so metallic. Accompanied by a higher pitched, slightly raspy whistling "aiiooo" rising and falling in pitch.

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

Sounds:Recorded by Jarek Matusiak,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license

Appearance:

Differs from Ringed Plover by bright yellow eyering (adults),only faint wing-bars, long tertials (covering the primaries) and slimmer more elongated body shape. Apart from the diagnostic eyering, adults show white band across crown, brown-grey legs (not orange) and dark bill. Juveniles also show only faint wing-bars, supercilium is faint, especially behind the eye, lower part of "mask" is pointed and bill is slimmer.

Sound:

Quite different from Ringed Plover. Sharper sounding, lacking Ringed's soft tone. Often starts with a rolling "r". Common calls are a two syllable "krrll-uuit" with a rising pitch or just a sharp, rolling "krrri-krrri". Also a longer rolling "krree-looo" with pitch rising in first syllable and falling in the second.

Contact, and alarm calls:

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

Sounds:Recorded by Lauri Hallikainen,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license