Appearance:

Small bunting with warm rufous cheeks framed in black. Often with a pale spot hind-cheek, towards the neck. Pale eyering, pale wing-bar, rufous median and black lateral crown-stripe . Bill grey with straight culmen. Easily confused with female Reed Bunting. In addition to mentioned criteria, also note pinkish legs and much paler lores. Sexes more or less alike, but birds with rufous throat and contrasting crown-stripes are usually males.

Sound:

Contact call a sharp and short "zeek". Song pleasant and melodic. Variable phrases with variable tempo. Repeated single notes are frequently interrupted by trills. Timbre rich in harmonics like other buntings.

Song:

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

CC

CC-photo:ansel.ma, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Hiyashi Haka, Licence,Link.

Sound:Recorded by Andreas Linden, http://www.xeno-canto.org/ ,CC license

Appearance:

Quite similar to Whinchat all plumages lack the strong pale supercilium. Male easily identified by its mainly black and white plumage, black throat and white half-collar. Other plumages seem much more evenly coloured than the Whinchat's, with its more pronounced streaking. Adult females also with diffuse black throat, but this becomes paler as the plumage is worn. All plumages show white patch at base of wing in flight. Rump usually streaked, but sometimes has a white center, or can even be completely white. Juveniles like female, but with streaked underparts. Always restlessly on the move with frequent dipping of tail.

Sound:

Alarm call an alternation of a high-pitched "weet" and a hard "check", like other chats. The "weet" is much higher pitched than the similar call of Whinchat, and Stonechat repeats the "check" more frequently. The song is a sweet stream of scratchy notes. Much more even, and less chattering than the Whinchat. Almost like a short and scratchy Dunnock phrase.

Song:

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