Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius)
Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus)
Biggest woodpecker in WP (crow size). All black with red crown (male) or nape (female). Unmistakable. Flight Nutcracker-like, "inefficient" and fluttering, almost without undulations.
Sound:Most sounds diagnostic and very far reaching. Drumming very powerful and long (1.8 - 3 sec.) with slightly falling intensity and accelerated ending. Each beat clearly distinguishable as in Tree-toed Woodpecker, but duration much longer. Drumming:
Flight call a characteristic resonant trill "krrreekrrreekrrreekrrree". A characteristic short, sharp and plaintive "keeaaa" with descending pitch often uttered when excited. Song a quick series of "klee" calls resembling Green Woodpecker, but with a purer tone and upward infliction at end of each syllable. A few slower drawn-out introductory calls before the phrase gets going is diagnostic.
Excitement call, song, social sounds, flight call:
Distribution:
Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)
Ecology:Birdlife ecology
Links:
Observation.org Latest observations
Image search Flickr NB! May give other species
CCEurope'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
Image search Flickr NB! May give other species
CC