Appearance:

Small head, short, thick neck, quite broad wings and fairly short tail. May be confused with a range of different species due to the highly variable plumage. Underparts range from almost white to very dark. Plumage tone ranges from chocolate to rusty brown. Dark morph usually with pale breast band. Shows 5 fingers like other Buteo, as opposed to small eagles. Tail lacks the broad terminal band of Rough-legged Buzzard. Neck thicker than in Honey Buzzard. Secondary coverts form a pale band in dark morph. Light morph typically with primary coverts forming black 'comma'. Soars with raised wings, but glides on straight wings.

Sound:

Quite vocal. Most typical call a wailing, mewing "peeoooo". Quite similar to Rough-legged Buzzard, but the pitch falls more rapidly and is then sustained for the last part of the call.

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:Piotr Szczypinski, 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