Appearance:

An almost featureless, large warbler with greyish brown upperparts and buff underparts. Lack of distinct characters is a character! Most distinct character is probably the faint, slate grey half-collar. Vent has no markings, eye is dark and bill is relatively short. Body quite plump, and facial expression gentle and mild. Usually stays hidden in foliage. Lacks nervous behaviour of other Sylvia, and does not normally flick its tail and wings.

Sound:

Song: a full bodied, flowing, melodious stream of notes, distinguished by its almost constant, warbled quality and lack of clear whistling notes (see Blackcap). Tempo is fairly even. Beware confusion possibility with occasional subsong of Blackcap that never reaches the whistling part! Call a nasal "che". Alarm call a hard "check", and a hoarse "tcherr".

Song:

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

CC-photo:Billy Lindblom, Licence,Link,

CC-photo:themadbirdlady, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Martha de Jong-Lantink, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Slender and elegant bird, about the same size as Grey Heron. Bill dark in breeding birds, otherwise yellow. Legs and feet dark, but tibia often with red tinge in breeding season. Long, S-shaped neck with sharp angle/bend. Erect posture, and less skulking, horizontal hunting behaviour than Little Egret. Almost twice the size of Little Egret, and wing-beats are considerably slower. Wings give the impression of being attached more upfront than in Little E. Feets protrude well beyond tail in flight.

Sound:

Silent outside breeding ground. In colonies various harsh calls like a dry, and mechanical "kerrrrrrr", and a very nasal "geet" or "ga-geet ga-geet" are heard.

Flight 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

CC-sound:Lynette Rudman, Licence,Link.