Little Owl (Athene noctua)
Rock Dove (Columba livia)
A small, tubby and compact owl with long legs, yellow eyes and stern expression. Head without tufts or any sharp corners, proportionally smaller than in Tengmalm's Owl, and without large, white facial discs. Upperparts greyish brown to buff, with boldest white spots of any small owl in the region. Underparts whitish with heavy, brown streaking. Flight characteristic, with alternating wing flapping and closed wings. Runs, or even hops along the ground. Posture mostly erect, but hunched when in alarm.
Sound:Song a clear drawn "klooit" resembling Scops Owl, but with different intonation and longer single notes. Tone rises slowly in pitch throughout the call and ends with marked raised pitch, often with a change in timbre to a coarse shriek. Rich repertoire of social sounds: E.g. a clear "klewew", and sharp short "kek kek kek".
Song, contact call:
Distribution:
Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)
Ecology:Birdlife ecology
Links:
Observation.org Latest observations
Image search Flickr NB! May give other species
CCClearly smaller than Wood Pigeon. Plumage highly variable, and some morphs quite similar to Stock Dove. Differs from latter in complete dark wingbars on secondary coverts (not only inner coverts). Back light grey, contrasting with darker grey neck and head. Often with white patch at lower back, but not always. Underside of wings very pale, and dark trailing edge of tail fairly narrow. Lacks Wood Pigeon's white wing-patches. Feral Pigeon is the same species as Rock Dove. The existance of a population of pure wild Rock Doves without any mixed genes from feral populations anywhere in the world is debateable. There are many traits that can determine a bird as feral (like asymmetrical pigmentation), but birds with "classic" wild Rock Dove plumage also exists in the feral populations.
Sound:Not loud. Song a two-syllable, but continuous cooing. First a rolling ascending "orrrrrr" immediately followed by a short descending "oohh". Wings produce a quite audible whistling sound.
Song:
Distribution:
Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)
Ecology:Birdlife ecology
Links:
Observation.org Latest observations
Image search Flickr NB! May give other species
CC