Appearance:

Largest sawbill. Male: white to pinkish white plumage with black back and dark green head. Female with grey body and brown head. Sharp division between brown head and whitish breast, together with contrasting white chin, distinguishes it from female Red-breasted Merganser. Both sexes with hook at tip of bill, dense crest and swollen base of bill. Wing-bars all white. Flight silhouette more diver-like than duck-like.

Sound:

Male: Mostly heard when courting. A twanging, disyllabic "whip-ooooo", first syllable ascending and second whistle-like and rapidly falling. Female: A coarse "ahrrr ahrrrr", or a raspy drawn "ah-ahrrrrrr ah-ahrrrrr", slightly rising, then falling in pitch. Also various cackling sounds.

Display-call male:

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 Paul Driver,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license

Appearance:

Large tern with black bill, with yellow tip (adults). Bill all black in juveniles. Long black cap and shaggy crest. Generally leaves a much whiter impression than other terns in the region (except Roseate Tern). Adult summer: Yellow bill-tip. Tail pure white, and upperparts pale grey. Outer primaries darker than rest of wing, and contrast increases in worn plumage. Broad white trailing edge to inner wing. Underside of primaries with faint narrow dark trailing edge. Forehead white in adult winter and first winter plumage. Juveniles: scaly upperparts and dark bill. Less evenly coloured than juvenile Gull-billed Tern. First winter birds similar to juveniles, but back purer grey and bill shorter. Can be mistaken for Gull-billed Tern, but note different profile. Flight powerful with evenly narrow wings and a front-heavy appearance, due to the long head and bill. Often dives from high above the surface and stays under water longer than Common and Arctic T.

Sound:

Contact call a sharp and grating "keeree-eek". Often compared to the pressing of amalgam into a tooth.

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:Paul:Ritchie, Licence,Link.

CC-sound:Peter Boesman, Licence,Link.