Appearance:

Bulky, golden-brown heron with thick neck and short legs. Largely unmistakable but skulky behaviour makes it difficult to observe, as it generally forages hidden in reed-beds. Plumage mottled above, with coarse stripes below. Primaries and most secondaries with dark barring, in contrast to paler coverts. May recall Eagle Owl in flight with broad, rounded wings and retracted neck, but wings are bowed and legs trail behind tail. Crown and moustache stripe black in adult and brown in immature birds. Betrays its presence by it's far reaching song.

Sound:

Flight call a deep croaking "graat". Song unmistakable and far reaching (up to 5 km). Pitch very deep, with timbre similar to blowing on a big empty bottle. At close range an "inbreath" is also audible (1-3 dampened, higher pitched introductory notes).

Song (note; recording not audible on small mobile devices):

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-photo:littlew, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Clearly smaller than Wood Pigeon, and lacks white wing-patches. Most susceptible to confusion with Feral Pigeon. Differs from latter in incomplete dark wing-bars, covering only inner secondary coverts. Colour of back same grey tone as neck and head. Never with white patch at lower back. Underside of wings grey, with clearly defined dark frame. Black trailing edge of tail fairly broad.

Sound:

Song a two-syllable, cooing. Much louder and more accentuated first syllable than in Feral Pigeon. First a short ascending "oooh", immediately followed by a short descending "oohh". Tone quite pure, mostly lacking the rolling quality of Feral Pigeon.

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