Appearance:

Small, starling sized owl. Smaller than Little Owl. Perches in upright position. Ear-tufts not prominent when relaxed, but gives angular shape to head. Plumage appears uniform, and colour varies from brown to rufous-brown. At closer range, whitish spots on shoulders and yellow eyes with dark surround, are visible. Appears long-winged in flight.

Sound:

Song: a slightly descending, short "klooit". The tone is resonant, clear and pure, unlike Little Owl. Calls uttered endlessly in a frequency of about 20 a minute. Resembles Midwife Toad (Alytes), but is clearly modulated in pitch, as opposed to the toads straight tone.

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

CC-photo:Willem Vergoossen, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Viskens Michel, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Eric SANSAULT, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Adults unmistakable. White head with bold black markings and orangy brown back. Even more striking in flight, with white wedge on back, large white patches at base of wings, white wing-bars and black and white tail. Juvenile and winter plumage birds with similar white patches, but with darker head and greyish, dark brown back. Underside always pure white. Leaves a robust and compact impression, with heavy bill and square head.

Sound:

Characteristic call: An explosive, hard, resonant and short "koi" or "kott" with a peculiar timbre, usually given in rapid or accelerating series. Alarm call/song more "wader-like", a staccato "kuvi-kuvi-vit-vit-vitua".

Alarm 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 Niels Krabbe,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license