Little Owl (Athene noctua)
Baillon's Crake (Zapornia pusilla)
A small, tubby and compact owl with long legs, yellow eyes and stern expression. Head without tufts or any sharp corners, proportionally smaller than in Tengmalm's Owl, and without large, white facial discs. Upperparts greyish brown to buff, with boldest white spots of any small owl in the region. Underparts whitish with heavy, brown streaking. Flight characteristic, with alternating wing flapping and closed wings. Runs, or even hops along the ground. Posture mostly erect, but hunched when in alarm.
Sound:Song a clear drawn "klooit" resembling Scops Owl, but with different intonation and longer single notes. Tone rises slowly in pitch throughout the call and ends with marked raised pitch, often with a change in timbre to a coarse shriek. Rich repertoire of social sounds: E.g. a clear "klewew", and sharp short "kek kek kek".
Song, contact call:
Distribution:
Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)
Ecology:Birdlife ecology
Links:
Observation.org Latest observations
Image search Flickr NB! May give other species
CCMost likely to be confused with Little Crake (P. parva). Most important field characters is the very short primary projection and lack of red base of bill. Some caution should be taken as missing or unorderly tertials can be confusing with regards to the projection, and immature Little Crake may sometimes also lack red base of bill. Flanks and belly more extensively barred than P. parva. Upperparts richer brown with white spots. Sexes alike, but females often with paler throat. Brown cheeks occurs in both sexes. Legs dirty olive colour and bill greenish. Immature even more easily confused with P. parva, but apart from the missing projection, note warmer brown upperparts and more heavily barred underparts, even on breast. Crown less evenly coloured than P. parva, with blackish speckles.
Sound:Rich repertiore. Male song easily overlooked due to similarity to The edible frog Pelophylax esculentus., and to being audible only a few hundred meters. The sound, a rolling "trrrrrrrr", differs from frogs in being drier and more stable in pitch. Sometimes the pitch rises slightly in the beginning of the call, but then remains stable also at the end. The call is uttered in 1-2 seconds intervals and each call is 2-3 seconds long. Some overtone modulation is common (stable pitch but change of vocal "ooeeii"). Unmated female sings with a more hurried "wirrr". Alarm call a series of nasal, hoarse "weeat" or a sharp "kriik".
Male song:
Distribution:
Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)
Ecology:Birdlife ecology
Links:
Observation.org Latest observations
Image search Flickr NB! May give other species
CCCC-sound:Edmunds Racinskis, Licence,Link.
CC-photo:Peter Jacobs Photos, Licence,Link.
CC-photo:gilgit2, Licence,Link.