Appearance:

Unmistakable. Grey, cliff-climbing bird with long, thin and curved bill. Wings with colourful pattern in carmine red, black and white spots. Habitually flicks wings when foraging (see videolink below), but still hard to spot when not flying. Flight jerky and butterfly-like, and also recalls Hoopoe. Wings appear dark from below, except for white pearls on primaries. Male with blackish throat in breeding season.

Sound:

Alarm call a thin trilling "vuiirrrrrrr". Flight call one or several soft whistles, often with (very) short trill as attack or tail. Song variable in length, but main characteristic a sequence of 4-6 long, ascending whistles with timbre recalling whistling kettle. More complex and varied phrases are mixed with the long whistles. Both male and female sings.

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

CC-sound:Philippe Legay, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:gilgit2, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Most distinct species of the genus. Most similar to Willow Warbler, but with much more contrasting plumage. Upperparts pure green. Throat and upper chest yellow, contrasting with pure white underparts. Distinct and strong yellow supercilium and black eye-stripe. Long primary projection, with primaries reaching middle of relatively short tail. Tertials with pale green fringes. Legs pale yellowish brown. Posture often horizontal with drooping wings.

Sound:

Song distinct. An accelerating series of sharp, metallic "swee-swee-swee-swee". Typically with a staccato beginning. Pitch drops as the speed increases and the syllables fuses into a continuous trill. Often described as the sound of a spinning coin coming to rest on a glass table. Some phrases may be given in an almost even tempo, and may recall Bonelli's Warbler. Alternative (piping) song a series of 4-6 piping, plaintive and descending "pew - pew" calls. Resembles Willow Tit's song, but is softer with each note more evenly pitched. Contact call similar to individual syllables of piping song, but with heavier accent on the ending.

Song (two variants):

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