Appearance:

Small, stout, unmistakable raptor with pale grey plumage. Strikingly broad wings and short tail. Large, round, owl-like head with black "mascara" and short neck. Underside of wing-tips, and upper median and lesser coverts black. Immature birds often with rusty underparts and white fringes to flight feathers and scapulars. Glides with wings raised high like a harrier. Frequent and skilfull hovering.

Sound:

Not very vocal. A soft "Pjuu-harrr". Starting as a mellow, ascending whistle and ending with a harsh screech. Also uttered without the harsh ending, or only a Barn Owl-like screech. Other sounds: rapid series of soft "kekekekekekekekeke" and short whistles.

Alarm call:

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

CC

CC-sound:Bernard BOUSQUET, Licence,Link.

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