Appearance:

Easily confused with Sandwich Tern but choice of habitat usually different. Adults differs by noticeably shorter and deeper bill, lacking yellow tip. Wings are broader, tail is shorter and only slightly forked. Lacks crest. Primaries with dark trailing edge, especially underside. Rump pale grey, and there is no contrast between grey back and white tail as in Sandwich Tern. Loses the black cap in winter, but keeps a black mask (less black on head than Sandwich T). Immature birds also gives a paler impression. The back is almost uniform in colour, and the wings also have only diffuse markings. The dark trailing edge to the primaries is present though, together with dark eye mask. Rest of head is pale. Flight slightly front-heavy with shallow wing-beats. Catches insects in the air and from the ground in flight. Rarely plunge-dives. Prefers fresh water, and is often seen near wetlands, rivers and flooded fields, but also in salt water during migration.

Sound:

Quite vocal and easily distinguished from most congeners. Mewing and sharp in tone, but not rattling or raucous like most terns. Most typical call is a disyllabic, mewing "ke-waat", with an upward inflection. Other variants are series of "ke-ke-ke-ke", or the mewing sounds.

Contact 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

CC

CC-sound:Stanislas Wroza, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Small dabbling duck. Males unmistakable with broad white supercilium and high contrast between the dark mottled breast and the lighter flanks (visible at considerable distance). Female mottled in light brown colours with typical supercilium and contrasting eye-stripe. White spot at base of bill. Throat much lighter than in Teal. Both sexes with dark and fairly long bill. Head gives a square impression due to the flat crown. Speculum in flight shows narrow white edges, lacking Teal's broad front edge. Agile flight, but lacks the twists of Teals.

Sound:

Male display sound a characteristic dry rattling, like the sound of running fingernails along the teeth of a comb. A bit similar to Ptarmigan. Also heard at other times than when courting. Female: like female Teal, but typically a bit deeper and shorter calls.

Display-call male:

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