Appearance:

Small falcon recalling both Kestrel and Hobby at a distance, but most likely to be confused with latter. Adult male unmistakable with ashy grey plumage and rufous red "trousers". Colour of trousers not always obvious, but silvery upperwing often visible in flashes at distance. Adult female also distinct with almost unstreaked buff underparts and under wing-coverts, buff neck and crown, dark mask and white cheeks. Immature most likely to be confused with Hobby but differs in barred upper side of tail, pale forehead, white (half)collar, contrasting dark trailing edge to wing and more striking fringes to coverts. Underparts also less heavy streaked. Flight profile similar to Hobby but tail slightly longer and more rounded. Hunts insects in flight, but in contrast to Hobby, hovers frequently and with deeper wingbeats than Kestrel.

Sound:

Flight call very similar to Hobby, a wryneck-like series of "kew kew kew kew", each call falling rapidly in pitch. Sometimes given in a harsher more staccato version. Very vocal at colony with various squeaky and whimpering begging calls.

Flight 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

Featherbase

CC

CC-sound:Tomas Belka, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Jan Thomas Landgren, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Paul Cools, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Paul Cools, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Jan Thomas Landgren, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Medium sized, green woodpecker with black mask. Crown red in all plumages. Females with black moustache stripe, males with red framed in black. Juveniles heavily marked with small black and white spots all over, and less prominent black mask. Bigger and more heavily built than Grey-headed Woodpecker, with longer and stouter bill. Often foraging on the ground. Flight undulated.

Sound:

Song similar to Grey-headed Woodpecker, but not as soft and fluty. Each phrase consist of a series of short "klee", with a laughing quality. Pitch drops slightly throughout the phrase, but not as markedly as in Grey-headed, and tempo is fairly constant (no ritardando). Short "kek" calls when excited and in flight. Drumming of 1.5 seconds duration with decelerating tempo, but not often heard. Another call is similar to Black Woodpecker; a series of resonant "klit-klit-klit-klit-klit-klit", but is less clear, has a more determined start and has less obvious rising pitch at the end of each syllable.

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