Appearance:

A medium sized thrush with evenly brown to olive-brown upperparts. Underparts boldly covered with arrow-shaped spots. Chest with buff tones. Faint face patterns and buff underwing coverts distinguishes it from all other thrushes in the region. Lacks the white cheek-spot of Mistle Thrush, and the colour of the back of the head is not paler than the back. Sexes alike. Juveniles with buff-spotted upperparts. Quite short-tailed and compact, with rounded wings. Jerky, and not very undulated, flight pattern.

Sound:

Very melodious, varied and a master imitator. Still easily distinguished by its tendency to repeat introductory motives two or more times, and its many high pitched themes. Each phrase is loud and penetrating and the tempo deliberate. Most heard (but easily overlooked) contact call is a dry and very short "zip", sometimes given as a two syllable call "zip-ip".

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

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