Appearance:

Epitome of wheatears. Male with grey back, white supercilium, black mask and dark wings. Females have less contrast, are more brownish than grey, the supercilium is fainter and the black mask is missing. Rump white and tail white with black "T" in all plumages. The black in the middle tail-feathers is always at least as long as the width of the black terminal tail-band. Pale individuals can be mistaken for Isabelline Wheatear, but note that the supercilium is buff between eye and base of bill.

Sound:

Contact and alarm call a high pitched, sharp "weet", followed by a hard "check", like hitting two rocks together. The "weet" sound is much sharper than the similar sound in Whinchat and Stonechat. Wheater usually repeats the "weet" sound more frequently than the "check" sound. The "check" of Stonechat is less pure and more gritty. The Wheatear song consists of short phrases with marked pauses. Each phrase is often introduced by the "weet" sound, then followed by hastened, creaking, rattling and warbling sounds of 1-2 seconds duration. The "check" sound is also often included in the song.

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

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