Appearance:

Large, elongated, long-tailed finch with secretive behaviour. In all plumages: Black wings with white wing-bars and white edges to tertials. Tail black. Body speckled in grey, with orangy/yellowish, or deep red base colour. Flanks, belly and vent grey. Deep and short Bullfinch-like bill. Juveniles dark brown above with less contrasting wing-bars. Shows only faint yellow or brown on throat and chest. Note long tail and thrush-like appearance in flight. Not shy.

Sound:

Contact call a melodic, plaintive "cliu-wee", with both syllables falling in pitch. Analogoues to Siskin, but much more full-bodied and lower pitched (like a mix of Siskin and Bullfinch). Song a soft, flowing, melodic yodeling in clear, flute-like tones.

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

Sounds:Recorded by Richard Dunn,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license

Appearance:

Anonymous, indistinct plumage and secretive behaviour makes it an easily overlooked bird (except when singing). Upperparts brown-grey, tail rufous brown. Underparts dull white. Throat with faint streaking on each side. Very similar in appearance to Nightingale, but tail is not as rufous, and contrasts more with the grayer/brownish back. Overall more drab appearance. Thrush-like behaviour despite the small size, with jumping gait, raised tail and drooping wings.

Sound:

Alarm call alternates between a thin, high pitched, "piuu", and a characteristic dry, rattling, frog-like "rrrrr". Song a highly distinct mix of extremely resonant, full-bodied notes and species specific, dry, rolling, rattling sounds. Can only be confused with Nightingale, but lacks this species' interwoven series of slightly ascending, plaintive notes.

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