Appearance:

Unmistakable due to the extremely long, red legs. High contrast plumage with pointed, black wings (both upper and under-side) and white underparts. Tail white, with white wedge extending up back. Back of adult male sooty black, while brownish black in female and immature. Head all white or with black markings independent of sex (males more often have black markings than females though). Immature with faint, pale fringes to coverts, and white trailing edge to secondaries visible in flight.

Sound:

Most vocal at breeding ground. Various short,sharp "kyp" may resemble both Avocet, Coot and Spur-winged Lapwing (Vanellus spinosus). While a tern-like "kee-arr" is more distinct. Note that immature birds have a different contact call closely resembling Wood Sandpiper, but do not utter it in series.

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:

Largest falcon. Heavily built. Grey upperparts and white, speckled underparts. Juveniles with browner plumage than adults, blue-grey legs and longitudinal streaking below. Diffuse moustache-stripe, and the whole head seems dark at distance, lacking a defined cap. Rounder and broader wings, longer tail and bulky belly distinguishes it from Peregrine. Underside of wings with dark coverts in contrast to pale base of flight-feathers. Extremely powerful, but slower flight action than Peregrine.

Sound:

A coarse, drawn out, Peregrine-like "kaaawt", with emphasis on ending, is repeated in series. Much slower paced than in small falcons, and deeper and with different attack than in Peregrine. Also shorter, coarse warning-calls.

Alarm 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

Sounds:Recorded by Andrew Spencer,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license