Appearance:

Unmistakeable in all of WP except for Egypt where Senegal Thick-knee occurs. Differs from said species by more yellow on bill and only narrow white band on coverts framed in black (less prominent in immatures). Mostly nocturnal and easily overlooked at daytime when resting. Runs for cover with hunched posture if disturbed. Easily identified in flight by dark wing with white window, long tail and trailing toes. Betrays it's presence at dusk when groups of birds often starts calling and moving about.

Sound:

Very vocal at twilight with various wailing, curlew-like calls, undulating in crescendoes, often in joined choruses. Most typical call a cyclic "turrru-leeek", with rolling "r" and second part higher pitched (at end of sound file).

Two types of 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

CC-photo:Frank.Vassen, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Small and agile gull with all black wing-tips, black legs (adults) and yellow bill. Area close to wing-tips much paler than rest of wings, and often visible at surprisingly long range (more so than the black tips). Adult winter with grey neck and black half-collar. Juveniles with black zig-zag pattern to wings, resembling pattern seen in Little Gull, Ross's Gull and Sabine's Gull. Differs from those in; no dark bar on secondaries, underparts of wing white, back grey, black on primaries reaches wing-tip. Flight action different from larger gulls; fast, stiff wing-beats and elegant maneuvering even in strong winds.

Sound:

Highly vocal at breeding ground. A mewing "kitti-wake", with the pitch rising on the second drawn out syllable, and then falling. Generally silent elsewhere, except when squabbling over food.

Contact call:

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

Sounds:Recorded by Stein Ø. Nilsen,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license