Appearance:

Slightly smaller and less heavy than Willow Ptarmigan. Overall greyer plumage, and a more delicate bill. Male summer with grey upperparts and white underparts. Female summer with browner upperparts than male. Both sexes completely white in winter plumage, except for black lores in males. Wings white and tail feathers black in all plumages in both sexes.

Sound:

Call of male a very distinct "rrrrrrr", being a rattling rapid pulse of clicks, like running a stick along a picket fence. Female has similar sounds, but is higher pitched and not so coarse as male.

Flushed:

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-photo:fveronesi1, Licence,Link,

CC-sound:Peter Boesman, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Small vulture with characteristic flight profile, and distinct plumage with white body, white coverts and black flight feathers (in adults). Long, wedge-shaped tail, but not longer than wings are broad (as opposed to Lammergeier). Wings square with broad, full hand (slightly pointed in Lammergeier). Small head with thin bill. At long distance plumage of adults slightly similar to White Pelican, White Stork and pale Booted Eagles, but note wedge-shaped tail. Immature birds dark brown with paler coverts. Despite the less distinct plumage, the silhouette is similar to adults. Noticeably more active wing flapping and quicker wing-beats than in the large vultures.

Sound:

Almost never heard. May emit different grunting sounds and a slightly mallard-like "ga ga ga ga ga ga ga".

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