Appearance:

Small, stout, unmistakable raptor with pale grey plumage. Strikingly broad wings and short tail. Large, round, owl-like head with black "mascara" and short neck. Underside of wing-tips, and upper median and lesser coverts black. Immature birds often with rusty underparts and white fringes to flight feathers and scapulars. Glides with wings raised high like a harrier. Frequent and skilfull hovering.

Sound:

Not very vocal. A soft "Pjuu-harrr". Starting as a mellow, ascending whistle and ending with a harsh screech. Also uttered without the harsh ending, or only a Barn Owl-like screech. Other sounds: rapid series of soft "kekekekekekekekeke" and short whistles.

Alarm 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

CC-sound:Bernard BOUSQUET, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Male; brown body, light grey wings with black tips, and brown coverts. Unmarked light grey tail. Female; dark brown with light brown wing-coverts, crown and throat. Tail warm brown and unmarked. Juveniles dark, chocolate-brown, with light buff crown and throat. Young males may show characters of both sexes. Tail fairly long and unforked. Glides with wings raised in shallow V.

Sound:

Call: A sharp "kwii-uuu" of about a seconds length, rapidly ascending in pitch, and ending on a falling tone.

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

Sounds:Recorded by Jarek Matusiak,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license