Appearance:

Largely unmistakable. Male almost pure white with black dots. Female and juveniles white with heavy black barring, and may seem grey at a distance. Juveniles more finely barred than adult females, giving them a greyer appearance, with white neck and face. Body barrel-shaped, head small and rounded. Wing-tips more pointed than in other owls. Flight action both buzzard and owl-like, with surprising agility. Note that several species of owls may seem completely white to the untrained eye when suddenly appearing in car headlights etc.

Sound:

Song consists of single utterances or series of "aooo", recalling Great Black-backed Gull, and is far carrying. Male warning call a deep and harsh "groat grat grat", with accented endings of each syllable. Female warning call higher pitched. Also various other high pitched calls.

Alarm 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:Niels Krabbe, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:ahisgett, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Frank.Vassen, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Plain and characterless warbler with secretive behaviour. Larger than Sedge Warbler, with larger wings, broader tail and tail-base. Very similar to Marsh Warbler, and very hard to distinguish by plumage alone. Rump of Reed warbler warm rufous brown, warm buff flanks (yellowish tinge in Marsh Warbler), and slightly longer and more pointed bill. 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. Attached to reed beds.

Sound:

By far easiest to identify by song: Characteristic, almost metric and even rhythm, very different from Sedge Warbler. Squeaky timbre with many, almost bizarre, harmonics. Phrases generally repeated 2-3 times. Alarm call a harsh, dry and rolling "kraaaat".

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