Parrot Crossbill (Loxia pytyopsittacus)
Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)
Very similar to Crossbill, but has thicker neck, bigger head, hardly any forehead and deeper bill. Upper mandible is more curved towards the tip than in Crossbill, and the lower mandible is s-shaped with a "bulge". The tip of the lower mandible is seldom visible from behind the upper. The chest is deeper, and many birds have a front heavy appearance. Adult males shows most distinct characters of the species, and other sexes/ages may be difficult to identify because of overlapping characters with Crossbill. Plumage similar to Crossbill, with dark wings and tail. Males with rufous red head and body, females green. Juveniles greyish green with streaking. Posture less erect than Crossbill, which, together with short tail, contributes to the front heavy impression.
Sound:Contact call similar to Crossbill's "chepp", but is on average deeper and lacks the "cut-off" ending of each call. In sum: Parrot Crossbill; hard attack, soft ending, Crossbill: softer attack, cut-off ending. The song consist of improvised, resonant twittering and series of contact calls with no apparent phrases. It is generally slower than in Crossbill, with marked pauses.
Song:
Distribution:
Xeno-canto: map
Ecology:Birdlife ecology
Links:
Observation.org Latest observations
Image search Flickr NB! May give other species
CCSounds:Recorded by Lauri Hallikainen http://www.xeno-canto.org/CC license
A medium sized owl, which can give a very pale impression in flight. Quite similar to a Long-eared Owl with folded tufts, but differs in bright yellow eyes, darker wing-tips and heavily streaked breast in contrast to pale belly.
Sound:Song: a series of 6-10 deep "ho"s evenly spaced. Much faster than long eared owl, and rising in pitch until the final "ho". Calls: a raspy, drawn, mewing "eeeeeeeeeah" (about 2 seconds), rising in pitch with accented ending.
Song:
Distribution:
Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)
Ecology:Birdlife ecology
Links:
Observation.org Latest observations
Image search Flickr NB! May give other species
CC