Appearance:

Large, long-tailed eagle. Juveniles unmistakable, with white base of tail, dark terminal band and base of flight-feathers forming a white wing panel. Adult: dark brown with golden tinge to head. Variable amount of white wing panels and base of tail in intermediate plumages. Differs from other eagles by; wings held in shallow V when soaring, narrow wing base, flight feathers paler than coverts and body. Flight pattern elegant with a handful deep beats and typical alternate glides.

Sound:

Not very vocal. A short, clear, yelping "kew". Sometimes in series in mellow tempo. Also mewing, Buzzard-like calls.

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

Sounds:Creative Commons,www.xeno-canto.org,Stein Ø. Nilsen,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Appearance:

Breeding adult easily identified by white tail/rump combined with jet black under wing coverts and silvery upper wing. Immature with brownish back contrasting with pale, silvery upper wings and pale rump. Broad white collar, and lacks dark breast patch of immature Black Tern. Adult winter most liable to confusion with other terns, but upperparts much paler than Black Tern. Contrasting dark outer primaries and secondaries to rest of wing. Often retains some black under coverts even in winter which is diagnostic if seen. Slightly more compact than Black Tern and often recalls Little gull in shape. Bill noticeably shorter and thinner than in Whiskered Tern.

Sound:

Mostly silent away from breeding ground. Most diagnostic call a dry, rolling "krrrrrr-ta-ta" where the rolling is followed by one or two accentuated syllables, or just simply "krrrrrr". Used in excitement.

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

CC-sound:Marco Dragonetti, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Dick Hoek, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Lars Buckx, Licence,Link.