Females and first-winter birds have slightly browner upperparts, and the red of the underparts may be reduced to just a pinkish wash.

[3] The male of the similar taiga flycatcher, Ficedula albicilla, has the reddish-orange area limited to the throat and the top of the breast, and lacks the black border.

Most individuals leave the breeding grounds in September, arriving in Sri Lanka in October and departing again in late March.

The song is a short melodic sweet-eet sweet-eet-did-he, and the calls include a sharp chak and a harsh rattling trrr accompanied by wing flicking and tail movement.

[3] This is a vulnerable species with a decreasing population and breeding range, which is also severely fragmented as a result of the destruction of temperate mixed deciduous forests by commercial timber extraction, agriculture and livestock grazing.