Appearance:

Only woodpecker in the region with large, white shoulder patches and missing moustache stripe. Head leaves a pale and gentle impression, since no moustache reaches the bill, and the red crown is not framed in black. Flanks finely streaked. Bill short and slender, which together with the pale head gives it the impression of being markedly smaller than Great Spotted Woodpecker. Outer tail feathers distinclty barred in white. Sexes are similar but the red crown is brighter and reaches further down the neck of males. Crown feathers frequently raised in small crest. Often seen crouching across branches.

Sound:

Song is a series of short, mewing and nasal "peeaa peeaa peeaa ", where each syllable quickly rises in pitch, but the overall phrase is fairly constant. Contact and alarm call consists of a series of short "kitt" sounds, where the first syllable is clearer and distinctly in a higher pitch than the rest of the phrase. Seldom drums.

Song:

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

Featherbase

CC

Appearance:

Small martin with dark brown chest-band and white throat. Upperparts dark brown, underparts white. Underside of wings dark. Juveniles with light fringes to brown feathers, and buff throat. Flight more elegant than Barn Swallow and House Martin. Often changes direction but keeps altitude. More fluttering flight than House Martin, with less gliding.

Sound:

Contact call a mono- or disyllabic "trrrrt". Similar to House Martin but more raucous and less crisp, with less rolling r's, and with stable pitch throughout. Song a primitive improvisation on the contact call. Alarm call similar to House Martin; a sharp plaintive "tseep", but somewhat purer and more drawn.

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