Appearance:

Large, elongated, long-tailed finch with secretive behaviour. In all plumages: Black wings with white wing-bars and white edges to tertials. Tail black. Body speckled in grey, with orangy/yellowish, or deep red base colour. Flanks, belly and vent grey. Deep and short Bullfinch-like bill. Juveniles dark brown above with less contrasting wing-bars. Shows only faint yellow or brown on throat and chest. Note long tail and thrush-like appearance in flight. Not shy.

Sound:

Contact call a melodic, plaintive "cliu-wee", with both syllables falling in pitch. Analogoues to Siskin, but much more full-bodied and lower pitched (like a mix of Siskin and Bullfinch). Song a soft, flowing, melodic yodeling in clear, flute-like tones.

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

Sounds:Recorded by Richard Dunn,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license

Appearance:

Male shiny black with bright yellow bill and yellow eye-ring. Female dark brown above. Throat and chest in slightly paler tones with diffuse dark spots. Juveniles similar to females, but with fine buff streaking all over. More long-tailed than Redwing and Song Thrush. Flight action with alternating bursts of wing-beats and with little undulation (see Fieldfare).

Sound:

One of the most appreciated song birds. Very melodious and resonant, with long mellow notes and a large register. Less high pitched sounds than Song Thrush, and seldom repeats a phrase. Timbre fuller than both Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush. Well defined pauses between phrases, giving the song a relaxed pace. Large repertoire of calls. Most characteristic is a hysterical rattle often given when flushed. Sometimes preceded by a hard "tok tok", which then accelerates into a panicky arpeggio-like crescendo. Contact call a thin redwing-like "srrreee". Alarm calls: a sharp "tink, tink" or a very high pitch falling whistle.

Alarm call, 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