Appearance:

Unmistakable bird in most situations. Azure blue above, and orangy brown below. Very short tail, and large head with long and heavy bill. Often overlooked despite it's bright colours, due to small size and obscuring habitat. Often one only catches a glimpse of the light blue back, when it flies away close to the water surface in a whirring, darting motion.

Sound:

Most heard is the thin and penetrating contact call: A short "tzee", or disyllabic "tzee-tzu", with a ringing metallic quality. In excitement it is often alternated with ringing trills "tzeerrrrrrrrrr".

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

CC-sound:Dawid Jablonski, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Olive green upperparts, yellowish chest with gradual transition to off-white belly. Very similar to Chiff-chaff, and most field characters are subtle and often hard to see. Distinguished by (usually) pale, yellow-brown legs, dark framing to ear-coverts, stronger supercilium. Long primary projection (often 3/4ths the length of tertials) with irregularly spaced tips (visible when wing folded). Wings slightly more pointed than in Chiff-chaff, and not so fan-shaped. Juveniles often with whole underparts yellow. Frequently flicks tail, but not sideways (unlike Chiff-chaff). Generally also more calm when moving among the foliage.

Sound:

By far most easily identified by it's call or song. Contact/alarm call a soft, plaintive ascending "hoo-eet". Similar to Chiff-chaff, but first part more drawn, giving it a disyllabic feel. Song: A 3-5 second, falling phrase of soft, rippling "svi-svi" sounds, starting high with some attack, and then falling in a mellow manner. The phrase lacks any conclusion, and diminishes both in strength and tempo.

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