Appearance:

Similar to White Stork (Ciconia ciconia), but with dark brown, metallic neck, head, breast and back. Only belly and innermost, under wing coverts are white. Legs, eye-ring and bill deep red. Flies with neck extended like White Stork, but contrasting white belly is visible at great distance. Immature birds duller brown than adults, with grey-green bill and legs.

Sound:

Thin, disyllabic "ahhh-li" heard at nest and when courting. One syllable sounds like gasping intake of air, the other is a thin, piping sound. A bit like a cheap, manual, air-mattress pump. Bill-clattering used by juveniles in alarm.

Courting:

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:Edmunds Racinskis, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Chocolate-brown hood in adult plumage (seemingly black at a distance), but head only with dark markings in winter and juvenile plumages. Underparts of inner primaries dark grey. First few primaries white with black tip, both on upper side of wing and under. Last character conspicuous in all plumages, but slightly less obvious in juveniles due to larger dark area of wing-tip. Slender-billed Gull and Bonaparte's Gull show similar white first primaries, but differs in long and slender head profile and white underparts of hand respectively.

Sound:

Quite vocal, especially at breeding ground. Distinct, harsh calls. A rasping "kreearr", and shorter, sharp warning calls; "kek".

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

Featherbase

CC