Appearance:

Europe's biggest raptor. All dark vulture with short, wedge-shaped tail and very long and broad wings. Legs pale, and usually readily visible. May resemble White-tailed Eagle or Greater Spotted Eagle at distance, but note short neck, less protruding head, even longer and broader wings, and shorter tail. Under wing-coverts darker than flight-feathers. Trailing edge of wing fairly straight compared to S-shaped edge in Griffon Vulture, making the overall wing-shape more squarish. This is most obvious when soaring on stretched wings. Soars with wings leveled, not raised, often with hand lowered. Frequently raises tail just before landing.

Sound:

Voice little used but varied. Grunts,croaking, mewing, hissing etc. heard when breeding or feeding at carcasses.

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

CC

Appearance:

Medium sized diving duck. Male all black except orange spot on bill. Female dark brown with contrasting light grey cheeks. Differs from Velvet Scoter in all plumages by lack of white wing-bars, and longer tail. Birds resting on the surface characteristically bow their head when occasionally flapping the wings. Wings held tight against body when diving. Last two characters usable for identification at very long range. Also tend to stay closer together in groups than Velvet Scoter.

Sound:

More vocal than other Scoters. Short, whistling sounds, sometimes reminiscent of a male teal, but a little bit deeper in pitch.

Display-call male:

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

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