Appearance:

Largest rail in VP. Clearly bigger than coot, and almost twice the size of Moorhen. Generally unmistakable with its dark, violet blue plumage, long, robust legs and heavy bill. Under tail coverts white. Red frontal shield and bill, pinkish red legs. Immature birds with duller coloured legs, duller plumage and faintly greyish/whitish underparts. Trailing legs obvious in flight. Swims readily.

Sound:

Rich repertiore and very vocal. Sounds range from soft, mewing and laughing to hard, extremely shrill trills. Generally louder, and shriller than congeners. Often merges into, or starts with diagnostic, extremely hard trill "krrrrriiit".

Contact calls:

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:

Huge bird of prey with almost white head, neck and ruff. Body buff and wing-coverts pale buff in marked contrast to dark flight-feathers (opposite of Black Vulture). Silhouette typical with small head and short tail. Wings with S-shaped trailing edge, and very long and widely separated primaries. Soars with wings raised in shallow V. Glides on bowed wings, with slightly folded and depressed primaries.

Sound:

Quite vocal for a vulture, but generally silent in flight. Various shrieking high notes, hissing, and harsh cackling sounds.

Squabbling:

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

Sound recording:Recorded by Fernand Deroussen,http://www.xeno-canto-org/,CC license