Appearance:

Adult male easily recognized by black throat and strong white moustache stripes. Female often also with black spotted throat which, together with the moustache stripe and pale chest/belly, makes it easy to distinguish from other Sylvia. Females and immatures with pure white throat may be confused with female Sardinian Warbler, but show darker front half of head, paler and purer coloured belly and flanks (lacking brownish tinge) and white fringes to greater coverts and tertials (less obvious in worn plumage). For all plumages look for curved culmen, pointed bill and longer and squarer tail than Sardinian Warbler. Build more similar to Whitethroat than Sardinian Warbler, and also less agile than smaller Sylvia.

Sound:

Alarm call a rolling "trrrrrrrrt", similar to Spectacled Warbler, but less confluent (fewer pulses pr. sec.). Not as hard as corresponding call of Sardinian Warbler. Song a rapid mix of rolling alarm call type syllables, with interwoven single whistling notes. Rolling clearly softer than in Sardinian Warbler and often dominates the song with sequences of up to one second, giving it a very hectic feel. Each phrase rarely more than 2 seconds long. Some geographical variation exist and individuals with less rolling song easier to confuse with Sardinian and Cyprus Warbler.

Song (with extensive rolling), alarm, song:

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-photo:Oscar en Jolanda Balm, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Arie en Anneke Kolders, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Arie Kolders, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Mick Sway, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Bulky raptor with long tail and short, rounded wings. Small males may be difficult to separate from large Sparrowhawk females. Upperparts grey-brown, and underparts pale and barred or speckled. Male and female quite similar, but female larger. Juveniles browner than adults, with heavily speckled underparts. Supercilium prominent in both sexes. Bulkier belly and broader at base of tail than Sparrowhawk. Deep chest. Longer wings and longer secondaries gives more of a S-shape to trailing edge of wings. Slightly rounded tail-corners visible when soaring. Flight alternates series of wingbeats with short glides without loosing height.

Sound:

Series of short "ke-ke-ke-ke-ke". More resonant, both sharper and deeper pitched than similar call of Sparrowhawk, and much slower. Also a wailing "peeeaaaaw"

Alarm 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:Recorded by Tomek Tumiel,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license