Appearance:

Very similar to Common Swift, and often difficult to identify in the field. Seeing the birds against a darker background, as opposed to the sky, brings out some of the characters more clearly. Generally paler and more sandy brown than Common Swift. Differs further from C. Swift by: Rounder wing tip (outermost primary shorter than the next), slightly broader wings, broader and flatter head. White throat patch bigger and more prominent. The face seems paler, which brings out the dark eye-mask. Back slightly darker than upper part of wings. More contrast between outer and inner primaries. Underparts with more pronounced scaly pattern. Flight less acrobatic, with slightly slower wing-beats, more frequent gliding and much less twinkling turns.

Sound:

Similar to Common Swift, but usually very helpful for ID. Almost di-syllabic, with marked accent on second syllable which rapidly drops in pitch, "srrrree-aah". Common swift has a more even call, with accents on first part, without the sudden pitch-drop.

Contact call:

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

CC

Sound recording:Creative Commons,www.xeno-canto.org,Carlos W.,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Appearance:

Marked black breast-band and mask. Olive-brown upperparts and white underparts. Easily confused with Little Ringed Plover (especially juveniles). Diagnostic characters in adults are; striking white wing-bars (only faint in Little Ringed Plover), orange base of bill and legs, and no yellow eye-ring. Juveniles also show characteristic wing-bars, white supercilium extends behind the eye, lower part of "mask" is rounded and bill is stouter. Tertials do not cover tips of primaries.

Sound:

Usually heard before seen. Contact call a short, soft "koo-eep", with the emphasised second part higher and rising in pitch. Song a cyclic repetition of the contact call. Sometimes with a shortened phrases and a more creaking timbre.

Flight 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:Peter Boesman, Licence,Link.