Appearance:

Olive green upperparts, yellowish chest with gradual transition to off-white belly. Very similar to Willow Warbler, and most field characters are subtle and often hard to see. Distinguished by (usually) black, or dark-brown legs, only faint dark framing to ear-coverts, less marked supercilium. Shorter primary projection (1/2 to 2/3'rds the lenght of tertials), with regularly spaced tips (visible when wing folded). Wings more fan-shaped and less pointed than in Willow Warbler. Juveniles much less yellow below than in W.Warbler. Generally leaves a duller and greyer impression than W. Warbler, but plumage very variable. Frequently flicks tail, even sideways. Generally also more active when moving among the foliage.

Sound:

Contact/alarm call a soft, plaintive ascending "hooeet". Similar to W.Warbler, but shorter with a monosyllabic feel. Song a very distinct: "chiff-chaff-chiff-chiff-chaff-chiff", in a regular clock-like rhythm. Each syllable at seemingly random pitch, but no large intervals tonally. Sometimes "get stuck" at one note.

Contact call, 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

Appearance:

Bulky, golden-brown heron with thick neck and short legs. Largely unmistakable but skulky behaviour makes it difficult to observe, as it generally forages hidden in reed-beds. Plumage mottled above, with coarse stripes below. Primaries and most secondaries with dark barring, in contrast to paler coverts. May recall Eagle Owl in flight with broad, rounded wings and retracted neck, but wings are bowed and legs trail behind tail. Crown and moustache stripe black in adult and brown in immature birds. Betrays its presence by it's far reaching song.

Sound:

Flight call a deep croaking "graat". Song unmistakable and far reaching (up to 5 km). Pitch very deep, with timbre similar to blowing on a big empty bottle. At close range an "inbreath" is also audible (1-3 dampened, higher pitched introductory notes).

Song (note; recording not audible on small mobile devices):

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-photo:littlew, Licence,Link.