Velvety Black-Tyrant

A small black, white, and gray shrike. The sexes look similar. Note the white patches at the bottom middle and near the end of the wing. Along with the white outer tail, these can be conspicuous in flight. Found in dry savanna and grassland. Perches up conspicuously, often in pairs. Very similar to Taita Fiscal, but has multiple white patches on each wing instead of just one. The repetitive vocalizations include scratchy notes, usually higher and rougher than those of Taita Fiscal, often delivered in a rising pattern. 

A well-named tiny songbird, “a head with wings,” with rather long bill, long legs, and very short tail. Long buffy supercilium is conspicuous even in the gloomy leaf litter and dense shrubbery where this minute bird lurks. Other brown, skulking warblers such as Dusky and Radde's have much longer tails and lack the strongly contrasting buffy supercilium. Song an insect-like, throbbing buzz recalling a katydid or cicada.

Male is iridescent-green above, with a dark belly and a purple band across the breast. Female is nondescript, with a pale eyebrow and blurry streaking across the pale yellowish underparts. Found locally in coastal thornscrub. Very similar to Tsavo Sunbird, but slightly larger and longer-billed, and male Violet-breasted has a broader purple breast band. Also similar to Purple-banded Sunbird, but the male is distinguished by the lack of a maroon band across the underparts. Gives “tsik” calls; song is a high-pitched jumble.