Small brown flycatcher with a sharply contrasting black-and-white tail. Breeding male has an orange throat patch surrounded by a faint gray wash. Non-breeding male has darker flanks and far less orange on the throat. Female is cold brown above and dirty-white below. Red-breasted Flycatcher can be very similar; in Taiga, note restricted orange patch and gray throat wash in breeding male and overall colder coloration, darker bill, and black uppertail coverts (brown in Red-breasted). Voice also differs. Breeds in open wet Siberian taiga and winters in various wooded habitats.