Appearance:

Medium sized diving duck. Male all black except orange spot on bill. Female dark brown with contrasting light grey cheeks. Differs from Velvet Scoter in all plumages by lack of white wing-bars, and longer tail. Birds resting on the surface characteristically bow their head when occasionally flapping the wings. Wings held tight against body when diving. Last two characters usable for identification at very long range. Also tend to stay closer together in groups than Velvet Scoter.

Sound:

More vocal than other Scoters. Short, whistling sounds, sometimes reminiscent of a male teal, but a little bit deeper in pitch.

Display-call male:

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

Appearance:

Very small, almost sparrow-sized, woodpecker. Most likely to be confused with Great Spotted Woodpecker, but vent never red (always in Great Spotted). Back heavily barred, and underparts streaked. No large patches of white on upperparts. Male with red crown, female purely black and white. Bill small and slender. More likely to be seen foraging in branches than most other woodpeckers. Fluttering flight.

Sound:

Frequently drums in quite long series. Much longer than Great Spotted, and without ritardando. Most common call a series of merlin-like "ke-ke-ke-ke-ke-ke" given at fairly stable pitch, and less hoarse than Merlin. Differs from Wryneck in lacking marked rise and fall in pitch, and being less plaintive.

Drumming, 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

CC-photo:Stefan Berndtsson, Licence,Link, CC-photo:Maggi_94, Licence,Link,

CC-photo:phenolog, Licence,Link,