Appearance:

Small, but bulky gull. Black hood with white crescents above and below eye, blood-red bill and legs in breeding plumage. The rest of the body seems all white at a distance. Wingtips pure white in adult birds. Chest deeper than in Black-headed gull, and wings fairly broad and rounded. In winter the black hood is largely lost, but dark streaking around, and at the back of the eye remains. Juveniles can be confused with juvenile Mew Gull (Common Gull), but note white under wing-coverts, pale grey band (greater coverts) across secondaries, black or reddish bill and more narrow terminal band of tail. Paler belly than Mew/Common Gull. Second year birds are similar to adult winter, but varying degrees of black markings remains on wing-tips.

Sound:

Distinct calls which can be identified even in mixed flocks. Most common call a short, mewing "yeah". Pitch rises and fall rapidly, with a "surprised" intonation. Timbre is nasal but clear and pure. Alarm call a series of short "ke-ke-ke", with similar timbre.

Contact 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

Creative Commons,www.xeno-canto.org,Patrik Åberg,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Appearance:

Very large brown owl. Usually identifiable by its size and brown tones alone. Long ear-tufts usually pointing to the sides (depending on mood). Face differs from Long-eared Owl in having rather dark and brownish facial disks, and much less prominent light eye-brows. Eyes orange. Lacks the pale base of primaries of Great Grey Owl. Flight powerful and more raptorlike than other owls, interspersed with long glides. Ear-tufts foldable, and less visible in flight.

Sound:

Song a very deep "ooho". Continuous, but disyllabic. First syllable emphasized and second syllable rapidly falling in pitch. Quite similar to Long-eared Owl, but deeper and with more pronounced pitch change at end ("release"). Frequency of calls also diagnostic: Typically 8-10 seconds between each "ooho" (2-3 seconds in Long-eared Owl ). Audible at 1 - 4 km distance. Both sexes sing. Has a rich repertoire of contact/alarm calls like a hoarse, heron-like "kreaaak", and an excited, bubbling "hohohohoh".

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

CC-photo:hehaden, Licence,Link,

CC-photo:martino.pizzol, Licence,Link,