Appearance:

White rump and orange buff chest in all plumages. Breeding males with shiny black head and back. Females and winter plumage appears very speckled/mottled, especially in flight. Tail slightly shorter than Chaffinch, more deeply forked and almost black. Bullfinch and Goldfinch both have white rump, but Brambling is easily distinguished from these by the double wing-bars. Flight undulated and bouncing.

Sound:

Large repertoire of mostly characteristic sounds. Contact calls include a short, nasal, ascending "keeaa", a short high-pitched, piercing "tzeet" and a linnet-like "chepp". Song very distinct; a soft, wheezing, drawn-out single note. Repeated at the same pitch in a monotonous manner. May be mistaken for Greenfinch, but note softer timbre and stable pitch throughout the 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

Sounds: www.xeno-canto.org,Terje Kolaas,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Appearance:

In all plumages recognized by its long tail, call, and choice of habitat (reeds). Male unmistakable, with bluish grey head, yellow bill and black drooping moustache. Females and juveniles mostly plain, yellow-brown with whitish underparts and no moustache. Young females with dark bill, young males with yellow bill and black lore. Juveniles with black patch on back and black outer tail feathers. Flight whirring and undulated. Sometimes fans tail in flight with twisting motions.

Sound:

More often heard than seen. Usually identified by contact call; a ringing, explosive "tschin" with a characteristic "dirty" timbre. Also a hard and very short "pit", often mixed with the previous. Song a primitive, 3-syllable phrase, consisting of contact call-like sounds.

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

Featherbase

CC

CC-photo:sussexbirder, Licence,Link.