Little Owl (Athene noctua)
Demoiselle Crane (Grus virgo)
A small, tubby and compact owl with long legs, yellow eyes and stern expression. Head without tufts or any sharp corners, proportionally smaller than in Tengmalm's Owl, and without large, white facial discs. Upperparts greyish brown to buff, with boldest white spots of any small owl in the region. Underparts whitish with heavy, brown streaking. Flight characteristic, with alternating wing flapping and closed wings. Runs, or even hops along the ground. Posture mostly erect, but hunched when in alarm.
Sound:Song a clear drawn "klooit" resembling Scops Owl, but with different intonation and longer single notes. Tone rises slowly in pitch throughout the call and ends with marked raised pitch, often with a change in timbre to a coarse shriek. Rich repertoire of social sounds: E.g. a clear "klewew", and sharp short "kek kek kek".
Song, contact call:
Distribution:
Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)
Ecology:Birdlife ecology
Links:
Observation.org Latest observations
Image search Flickr NB! May give other species
CCSmaller and more delicate than Crane. Front of neck and chest black, with long plumes. Immatures show only faint black markings on neck and head. Upper wing lacks pale patch close to alula, and show little contrast between secondary and primary coverts. Easily mistaken for Crane in flight if black chest is not visible. Identification by call then helpful. Wing beats significantly faster than in Crane.
Sound:Recalls Crane but timbre very dry, almost rasping and pitch higher.
Call:
Distribution:
Xeno-canto: map
Ecology:Birdlife ecology
Links:
Observation.org Latest observations
Image search Flickr NB! May give other species
CC