Appearance:

Small, but bulky gull. Black hood with white crescents above and below eye, blood-red bill and legs in breeding plumage. The rest of the body seems all white at a distance. Wingtips pure white in adult birds. Chest deeper than in Black-headed gull, and wings fairly broad and rounded. In winter the black hood is largely lost, but dark streaking around, and at the back of the eye remains. Juveniles can be confused with juvenile Mew Gull (Common Gull), but note white under wing-coverts, pale grey band (greater coverts) across secondaries, black or reddish bill and more narrow terminal band of tail. Paler belly than Mew/Common Gull. Second year birds are similar to adult winter, but varying degrees of black markings remains on wing-tips.

Sound:

Distinct calls which can be identified even in mixed flocks. Most common call a short, mewing "yeah". Pitch rises and fall rapidly, with a "surprised" intonation. Timbre is nasal but clear and pure. Alarm call a series of short "ke-ke-ke", with similar timbre.

Contact 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

Creative Commons,www.xeno-canto.org,Patrik Åberg,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Appearance:

Medium sized, brown raptor with shallowly forked tail. Juveniles with mottled appearance, due to buffed tips of wing coverts. Easily mistaken for Red Kite, but tail is not that deeply forked, upper side of tail is dark brown and head not so pale (plumage colours overall more uniform). Base of primaries paler than the rest of the underwing (especially in Middle-East birds), but with much less contrast to the black wing tips than in Red Kite. Differs from dark morphed Booted Eagle by the forked tail. Wings held horizontally (separates it from harriers). Typically twists it's tail frequently to maintain position in the air (like Red Kite).

Sound:

A piercing, first ascending then descending long "piuuu". Starting as a clear tone then gradually taking on a vibrating character that differs from Red Kite. Also a sharp "kieee -ki- ki-ki". More vocal than Red Kite.

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

CC-sound:Patrik Åberg, Licence,Link.