Appearance:

Small, but bulky gull. Black hood with white crescents above and below eye, blood-red bill and legs in breeding plumage. The rest of the body seems all white at a distance. Wingtips pure white in adult birds. Chest deeper than in Black-headed gull, and wings fairly broad and rounded. In winter the black hood is largely lost, but dark streaking around, and at the back of the eye remains. Juveniles can be confused with juvenile Mew Gull (Common Gull), but note white under wing-coverts, pale grey band (greater coverts) across secondaries, black or reddish bill and more narrow terminal band of tail. Paler belly than Mew/Common Gull. Second year birds are similar to adult winter, but varying degrees of black markings remains on wing-tips.

Sound:

Distinct calls which can be identified even in mixed flocks. Most common call a short, mewing "yeah". Pitch rises and fall rapidly, with a "surprised" intonation. Timbre is nasal but clear and pure. Alarm call a series of short "ke-ke-ke", with similar timbre.

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

Creative Commons,www.xeno-canto.org,Patrik Åberg,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Appearance:

Adults differ from most other waders by bright red legs. Large white rectangular patches on secondaries conspicuous in flight in all plumages. Spotted redshanks in winter- or juvenile plumage lacks white wing bars, are more elegant with a more slender bill, and shows a stronger dark eyestripe and white supercilium. Juvenile Redshanks are unevenly, and sparsely spotted below from the legs to the vent, as opposed to the barring of juvenile Spotted Redshanks. Leg colour in juveniles often dull yellowish. Flanks evenly spotted. Winter plumage with brownish upperparts.

Sound:

Generally a noisy and loud bird, especially at breeding ground. Most heard is a characteristic "tew-hoo", or "tew-hoo-hoo" with first syllable accentuated. No gap between the syllables like Greenshank, and usually with a marked falling pitch. Song similar to Wood Sandpiper, but with three accented notes in each cycle, not two.

Flight/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