Appearance:

Similar to White Stork (Ciconia ciconia), but with dark brown, metallic neck, head, breast and back. Only belly and innermost, under wing coverts are white. Legs, eye-ring and bill deep red. Flies with neck extended like White Stork, but contrasting white belly is visible at great distance. Immature birds duller brown than adults, with grey-green bill and legs.

Sound:

Thin, disyllabic "ahhh-li" heard at nest and when courting. One syllable sounds like gasping intake of air, the other is a thin, piping sound. A bit like a cheap, manual, air-mattress pump. Bill-clattering used by juveniles in alarm.

Courting:

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:Edmunds Racinskis, 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.