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:

Small and compact, brown warbler with strong supercilium and streaked back. Crown dark with faint streaking, contrasting with broad supercilium. Rump unstreaked and warmer brown than back and tail. Juveniles with faintly streaked chest. Long primary projection. Body shorter and more compact than Reed Warbler. Easiest Achrocephalus to see in the region. Often sings from exposed branch or reed, is inquisitive and not very shy.

Sound:

Alarm call a hard "check". Anxiety call a dry and rolling "rrrrr". Song vigorous and varied. A mixture of musical sounds, expert mimicry and characteristic harsh and strident calls. Not as rhythmic and evenly paced as Reed Warbler, but varies tempo a lot.

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