Appearance:

White rump and orange buff chest in all plumages. Breeding males with shiny black head and back. Females and winter plumage appears very speckled/mottled, especially in flight. Tail slightly shorter than Chaffinch, more deeply forked and almost black. Bullfinch and Goldfinch both have white rump, but Brambling is easily distinguished from these by the double wing-bars. Flight undulated and bouncing.

Sound:

Large repertoire of mostly characteristic sounds. Contact calls include a short, nasal, ascending "keeaa", a short high-pitched, piercing "tzeet" and a linnet-like "chepp". Song very distinct; a soft, wheezing, drawn-out single note. Repeated at the same pitch in a monotonous manner. May be mistaken for Greenfinch, but note softer timbre and stable pitch throughout the call.

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: www.xeno-canto.org,Terje Kolaas,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Appearance:

Similar to Starling, and may be difficult to tell apart in winter and immature plumages. Most birds are in breeding plumage from March on, completely lacking spots, and with a purple (not green) sheen. Flight feathers lacks pale fringes, and the overall look is much darker than Starling. Elongated head and throat feathers are slightly longer than in Starling. Winter and immature plumage birds difficult to identify, but has small and spearhead-shaped spots, and darker wings (due to lack of pale fringes). Leg colour generally paler pink, than Starling, but some overlap occurs.

Sound:

Similar to Starling in form and variation, but the long, descending whistling notes are more dominant and accented. Sometimes uttered as trills, or "stuttered". Whistles also used as contact calls when not breeding.

Song:

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:Espen Quinto-Ashman, Licence,Link.

CC-Photo:Helen Commandeur, Licence,Link.