Appearance:

Small, stocky diving duck with short bill, big triangular head and yellow eyes (dark in juveniles). Male: dark metallic green head and white patch at base of bill. Black back and tail. Neck, breast and underparts white. Female with brown head, white collar and pale underparts. White, square wing panels and dark underwing in both sexes.

Sound:

Male display sound a dry nasal disyllabic "Ka-weerr". First note introductory and second longer and descending. Usually accompanied by back-throwing head motion. Female: dry harsh "aahrrrr aahrrrr aahrrrr ". Wings make a characteristic whistling sound.

Display-call male, wing noise:

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-photo:berniedup, Licence,Link,

Sounds:Recorded by Patrik Åberg,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license

Appearance:

Very similar to Common Swift, and often difficult to identify in the field. Seeing the birds against a darker background, as opposed to the sky, brings out some of the characters more clearly. Generally paler and more sandy brown than Common Swift. Differs further from C. Swift by: Rounder wing tip (outermost primary shorter than the next), slightly broader wings, broader and flatter head. White throat patch bigger and more prominent. The face seems paler, which brings out the dark eye-mask. Back slightly darker than upper part of wings. More contrast between outer and inner primaries. Underparts with more pronounced scaly pattern. Flight less acrobatic, with slightly slower wing-beats, more frequent gliding and much less twinkling turns.

Sound:

Similar to Common Swift, but usually very helpful for ID. Almost di-syllabic, with marked accent on second syllable which rapidly drops in pitch, "srrrree-aah". Common swift has a more even call, with accents on first part, without the sudden pitch-drop.

Contact 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

Sound recording:Creative Commons,www.xeno-canto.org,Carlos W.,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/