Appearance:

Small falcon recalling both Kestrel and Hobby at a distance, but most likely to be confused with latter. Adult male unmistakable with ashy grey plumage and rufous red "trousers". Colour of trousers not always obvious, but silvery upperwing often visible in flashes at distance. Adult female also distinct with almost unstreaked buff underparts and under wing-coverts, buff neck and crown, dark mask and white cheeks. Immature most likely to be confused with Hobby but differs in barred upper side of tail, pale forehead, white (half)collar, contrasting dark trailing edge to wing and more striking fringes to coverts. Underparts also less heavy streaked. Flight profile similar to Hobby but tail slightly longer and more rounded. Hunts insects in flight, but in contrast to Hobby, hovers frequently and with deeper wingbeats than Kestrel.

Sound:

Flight call very similar to Hobby, a wryneck-like series of "kew kew kew kew", each call falling rapidly in pitch. Sometimes given in a harsher more staccato version. Very vocal at colony with various squeaky and whimpering begging calls.

Flight call:

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:Tomas Belka, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Jan Thomas Landgren, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Paul Cools, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Paul Cools, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Jan Thomas Landgren, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Small head, short, thick neck, quite broad wings and fairly short tail. May be confused with a range of different species due to the highly variable plumage. Underparts range from almost white to very dark. Plumage tone ranges from chocolate to rusty brown. Dark morph usually with pale breast band. Shows 5 fingers like other Buteo, as opposed to small eagles. Tail lacks the broad terminal band of Rough-legged Buzzard. Neck thicker than in Honey Buzzard. Secondary coverts form a pale band in dark morph. Light morph typically with primary coverts forming black 'comma'. Soars with raised wings, but glides on straight wings.

Sound:

Quite vocal. Most typical call a wailing, mewing "peeoooo". Quite similar to Rough-legged Buzzard, but the pitch falls more rapidly and is then sustained for the last part of the call.

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-sound:Piotr Szczypinski, Licence,Link.