Appearance:

Dark blue metallic upperparts, deep red forehead and throat and light underparts. Long tail-streamers in adults and deeply forked tail. Both the metallic blue and the deep red appears black at a distance. Combination of dark throat/breast and light underparts and vent is diagnostic, and distinguishes it both from Red-rumped Swallow and the smaller martins. Juveniles are less brightly coloured with a dull red throat, and short streamers.

Sound:

Characteristic calls and song. Contact call a short and sharp "weet" or "kee-weet". Song a sparkling, squeaky energetic improvisation with interspersed contact calls, often with diagnostic ending; an electric and drawn-out "su-eerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr".

Song:

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

Appearance:

Like a large Willow Warbler, with distinct dark eye-stripe. Supercilium marked, but narrow. Starts at base of bill, continuing far behind eye. Wing-bar distinct on greater coverts, and sometimes on median coverts too. Primary projection long. Bill long and relatively heavy with orange base. Flanks often slightly grey, and throat sometimes with faint streaking. Appearance robust, but elegant. Moves faster and with more confidence than congeners.

Sound:

Call and song diagnostic. Song a rattling series of 20-30 single syllables. Repeated as a monotonous phrase in stable pitch, lasting 2-4 seconds. Starts more softly with volume rising throughout each phrase. Contact call equally unique. A hard and short "tsrrt", recalling contact call of Dipper. Often given as introductory part of song.

Song (two variants) and calls:

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:Karri Kuitunen, Licence,Link.