Appearance:

Sparrow-sized, brown and streaked passerine with slate-grey head and chest. Bill thin and warbler-like, head rounded. Narrow, pale wing-bars. Often forages on ground in a crouched manner, creeping or hopping with legs almost hidden. Flicks wings and tail when restless. Secretive behaviour, except when visiting feeders and when singing from tree tops.

Sound:

Contact call a dry, thick trill "trrr", and a short King Fisher-like, high-pitched "zeep". Song a fast and evenly paced, high pitched stream of clear notes. No consistent phrasing. Similar in timbre to Robin, but does not vary tempo or pitch nearly as much. Often compared to the sound of a squeaky wheelbarrow.

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

Appearance:

Plumage green, grey and yellow. Note bright, yellow base of primaries and sides of tail in all ages and plumages. Deep and heavy conical bill. Tail forked and quite short. Plump build. Female more grey than male, with back diffusely streaked in brown and underparts greyish. Juveniles similar to females, with even more drab colours and heavier streaking (also on underparts). Strongly undulated flight. Often appears somewhat clumsy when trying to perch on feeders etc.

Sound:

Song composed of various sequences of linked sounds, repeated in a vibrating manner; "trrrrrrrrr", "chechechecheche". Sometimes resembles Brambling when making the wheezy "rrrrrrrrr" sound, but differs in being harsher and by "pulling" the pitch downwards (or sometimes upwards) at the end. Contact call a fairly resonant "chep-chep", resembling Redpoll, but less nasal and with a fuller tone. Also a sharp, drawn, ascending "kooeee", (perhaps not obviously recognized as a finch).

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