Appearance:

Differs from Common Tern in shorter head, and blood-red bill. Legs shorter, but tail streamers longer (extends well past wings in sitting birds). Underparts of primaries with sharply bordered dark trailing edge (diffusely bordered in Common Tern). Both primaries and secondaries transparent to sunlight. Crest less apparent than in Common Tern and underside greyer. Cheeks white just below the black cap, often in contrast to grey lower cheeks. Juveniles lacks buff coloured back.

Sound:

Similar to Common Tern but higher pitched. Typical call a series of high pitched "tip-tip-tip", and longer, ringing, high-pitched "kriiiiii" calls. The drawn out "kree-aaahh" call falls less distinctly in pitch than Common Tern.

Calls:

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

CC-sound:Stein Ø. Nilsen, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

At a distance quite similar to Razorbill. Bill more slender, pointed and without white markings. Flanks streaked in black, and armpits with conspicuous black spot. Tail shorter than Razorbill. Cheeks white in winter, with thin black groove behind eye. Some individuals show white eye-ring and eye-groove in summer plumage. Differs from Brunnich's Guillemot in rounded, white wedge protruding from chest to throat, and all dark bill. Slender neck, head and bill, in combination with the short tail, gives it a different profile than Razorbill whether perched, swimming or flying.

Sound:

Very coarse and deep voice. Typically rising in pitch, then ending on a prolonged stable note with a laughing quality. Sometimes only the coarse beginning uttered like "ga-ga-ga".

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

CC-sounds:www.xeno-canto.org,david m,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/