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:

Large and bulkily built diver with heavy bill, square head profile and steep forehead. Usually holds bill pointed straight, not uptilted like White-billed Diver. Summer: White underparts and chequered black back. Black bill and head. Neck with white band. Winter; white underparts and dark back. Neck with incomplete black band, creating contrasting, jagged edge. Heavy, goose-like flight.

Sound:

Song: Like a slow Black-throated Diver. Pitch slowly rising with a register break, progressing into a cyclic, two to four syllable, motif. Also various vibrating eerie descending calls. Often used as sound effect in horror movies.

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

CC

CC-photo:jackanapes, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:jerryoldenettel, Licence,Link.

Sounds:Recorded by Patrick Åberg,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license