Appearance:

Medium sized falcon with long tail and long wings. Upperparts brick-red, underparts pale buff with dark speckles. Male; light grey head and tail. Female; brick-red head and tail. Both sexes with broad, black terminal tail-band visible on both sides. Evident, but diffuse moustache-stripe. Hovers more frequently than other raptors. Tail and wings gives a more rounded impression when soaring. Very similar to Lesser Kestrel.

Sound:

Most common call a fast series of short, high-pitched "ke-ke-ke". Much less raucous than Merlin or Peregrine.

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 Francesco Sottile,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license

Appearance:

Like a large Willow Warbler, with distinct dark eye-stripe. Supercilium marked, but narrow. Starts at base of bill, continuing far behind eye. Wing-bar distinct on greater coverts, and sometimes on median coverts too. Primary projection long. Bill long and relatively heavy with orange base. Flanks often slightly grey, and throat sometimes with faint streaking. Appearance robust, but elegant. Moves faster and with more confidence than congeners.

Sound:

Call and song diagnostic. Song a rattling series of 20-30 single syllables. Repeated as a monotonous phrase in stable pitch, lasting 2-4 seconds. Starts more softly with volume rising throughout each phrase. Contact call equally unique. A hard and short "tsrrt", recalling contact call of Dipper. Often given as introductory part of song.

Song (two variants) and 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

CC-sound:Karri Kuitunen, Licence,Link.