Appearance:

A small, elegant diving duck with highly variable looks depending on sex and time of year. Several moults with transitional plumages. Males with long, pointed tail and pink banded bill in most plumages. Females with grey bill. In all plumages note: small head, steep forehead and short bill with high base. Wings always all dark (also underside). Only diving duck with dark wings and light body. Flies with wings hardly raised above horizontal plane on upstroke.

Sound:

Very vocal and distinct. Male: a pleasant resonant melodic "ahh-aaooee" in a yodeling, breaking triad. Starting with an accented first note (ahh), then gliding from first through second and third note (-aaoooeee). Far carrying. Female: calls often, but less musical and distinct than male.

Male song:

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 Ian Cruickshank,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license

Appearance:

Most likely to be confused with Black-tailed Godwit, but easily recognized in flight by plain dark wings, white wedge on back and barred tail. More difficult to identify when not flying. Generally more compact, heavier built and less upright than Black-tailed, and with clearly upcurved bill and shorter legs. Belly always unmarked. Base of bill dark in summer and pinkish in winter and in juveniles. Back with arrow-shaped streaking. Adult winter also streaked, and the pale supercilium reaches behind the eye.

Sound:

Quite vocal at breeding ground but mostly silent elsewhere. Varied repertoire of mewing and sharp sounds, some resembling Black-tailed, some almost Snipe-like. Contact call a sharp "kwee-kee-wee-kee", with alternating high and low pitch, and decreasing intensity. Display call a hard and sharp "kuwek-kuwek-kuwek-kuwek", with emphasis on second syllable.

Display:

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 Patrick Åberg,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license