Appearance:

Largest rail in VP. Clearly bigger than coot, and almost twice the size of Moorhen. Generally unmistakable with its dark, violet blue plumage, long, robust legs and heavy bill. Under tail coverts white. Red frontal shield and bill, pinkish red legs. Immature birds with duller coloured legs, duller plumage and faintly greyish/whitish underparts. Trailing legs obvious in flight. Swims readily.

Sound:

Rich repertiore and very vocal. Sounds range from soft, mewing and laughing to hard, extremely shrill trills. Generally louder, and shriller than congeners. Often merges into, or starts with diagnostic, extremely hard trill "krrrrriiit".

Contact calls:

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

Appearance:

Large dabbling duck. In all plumages distinguished from other dabbling ducks by its slim neck and elegancy. Male with dark brown head, white breast and lower neck, with white wedges extending upwards on side of neck. Long, pin-like tail. Female mostly brown, wattled plumage, with longer tail than other dabbling duck females. Both sexes with bluish bill. Speculum dark green with broad white rear edge. Front edge buff in males. Edges more prominent in flight than the actual speculum. Flight pattern closer to Wigeon than Mallard.

Sound:

Female: similar to Mallards coarse laughing sound, but with a more emphasized first "haaa", and a more silent accelerating subsequent "laugh". Male: Pleasant, resonant "plop" similar to Teal, but lower pitched, richer, mellower and not so metallic. Accompanied by a higher pitched, slightly raspy whistling "aiiooo" rising and falling in pitch.

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