Appearance:

Breeding plumage: Yellow face with broad black moustache stripes and black lores. Black forecrown and thin black horns. Black breast band with blunt vertical extension towards throat (sometimes connects to moustache stripes). Black tail with white sides. Juveniles covered in small pale spots with only faint facial markings. May be confused with juvenile Skylark, but note shorter bill and yellowish face of young Shore larks.

Sound:

Song a stream of thin and tinkling, squeaking notes with a recurring, drawn, ringing and slightly ascending chirp. Timbre resemblant to Lapland Bunting. Often given from high in the air, being difficult to locate. More hesitantly when given from the ground with a stumbling introduction. Flight call quite similar to Meadow Pipit's "tseep" call, but less anxious.

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-sound:Nathan Pieplow, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

A medium sized, long-winged raptor, with deeply forked tail. Adults with warm brown underparts and typical whitish "window" contrasting with black wing tips. Tail rufous above. Easily confused with Black Kite, but this has shallower forked tail and gives a darker brown impression. Note that birds gliding with tail fanned may give impression of less forked tail. Flight elegant, with frequent and typical tail twisting to maintain position in the air.

Sound:

Mainly heard in breeding season. A piercing long whistle, quickly ascending, then descending "piuuu". Often used in movies to give an eerie wildlife mood. Differs from Black Kite in being a clear whistle all the way through the call, without "shivering". Higher pitched than Buzzard, and with less pause between calls.

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:Jens Kirkeby, Licence,Link.