Appearance:

Small and neat finch with red forehead patch, black bib and base of bill, yellow bill with dark tip and buff wing-bars. Male with pinkish or red chest. Rump streaked, and under tail-coverts with dark centre (as opposed to Arctic Redpoll). Base colour of plumage varies between different subspecies from warm brown to greyish. S.sp. cabaret (often treated as an own species: Lesser Redpoll) has brownish plumage tones, and is smaller than flammea (Common Redpoll). Juveniles lacks red forehead, has less contrasting head markings and more prominent streaking than adults. Underparts with darker streaking, and lores and chin darker than juvenile Linnet and Twite. Dancing flight, with deeper undulations than Linnet.

Sound:

Contact call diagnostic. A chattering "Chutt-utt-utt", with a more metallic and nasal timbre than Linnet and Twite. Other sound includes plaintive call mostly given when perched. Uttered as a continuous sound, but with a disyllabic feel. First part ascending slowly, then faster before it is cut off "tsooeet". Song an improvised chattering on various contact calls with no apparent phrasing.

Contact 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

Appearance:

Plain and characterless plumage, but conspicuous song. Larger than Sedge Warbler, with larger wings, broader tail and tail-base. Very similar to Reed Warbler, and very hard to distinguish by plumage alone. Rump of Marsh warbler shows less contrast to back, and flanks have a yellowish tinge. Bill slightly shorter and less pointed. Differs from Blyth's Reed Warbler by longer primary projection, yellowish lower mandible and paler legs. Juveniles especially hard to identify because of even fainter plumage field marks. Less common in reed beds than Reed Warblers, and more attached to bushes with lush undergrowth.

Sound:

Song extremely varied and full of mimicry of both European and African species. Up to 75 species imitated by the same bird. Phrases often repeated 2-4 times, and different phrases may overlap. Nevertheless, clearly defined phrases with marked pauses. Sometimes more flowing streams of notes, but less so than Icterine Warbler. Most similar to Icterine and Blyth's Reed Warbler. Softer timbre than Icterine, and not so loud. More defined pauses and staccato tempo, and lacks Icterine Warbler's nasal high-pitched calls. Differs from Blyth's Reed Warbler in fewer repetitions of each phrase, and lack of said species' whistling, arpeggio-like calls. Typical sequence is a hoarse, drawn "ti-chaaa". Alarm call a short "chepp" with clipped ending.

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

Sounds:Recorded by Edmunds Racinskis