Appearance:

Sparrow-sized, brown and streaked passerine with slate-grey head and chest. Bill thin and warbler-like, head rounded. Narrow, pale wing-bars. Often forages on ground in a crouched manner, creeping or hopping with legs almost hidden. Flicks wings and tail when restless. Secretive behaviour, except when visiting feeders and when singing from tree tops.

Sound:

Contact call a dry, thick trill "trrr", and a short King Fisher-like, high-pitched "zeep". Song a fast and evenly paced, high pitched stream of clear notes. No consistent phrasing. Similar in timbre to Robin, but does not vary tempo or pitch nearly as much. Often compared to the sound of a squeaky wheelbarrow.

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

Appearance:

Europe's biggest raptor. All dark vulture with short, wedge-shaped tail and very long and broad wings. Legs pale, and usually readily visible. May resemble White-tailed Eagle or Greater Spotted Eagle at distance, but note short neck, less protruding head, even longer and broader wings, and shorter tail. Under wing-coverts darker than flight-feathers. Trailing edge of wing fairly straight compared to S-shaped edge in Griffon Vulture, making the overall wing-shape more squarish. This is most obvious when soaring on stretched wings. Soars with wings leveled, not raised, often with hand lowered. Frequently raises tail just before landing.

Sound:

Voice little used but varied. Grunts,croaking, mewing, hissing etc. heard when breeding or feeding at carcasses.

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

CC