Forum warbler year list(III)

[dennis]

Hello all.

The last thread was getting a tad large(90 replies and 915 views) so let's start fresh.

The following is a list of all warbler species reported to the Forum in 2003. The species considered for the list include all those accepted by James Clements in his "Birds of the World a Checklist". Cisticolas and their allies have been given family status and are not counted. I believe I am up to date on splits and lumps(I hope). Anyone having seen any other warbler species not on the following list should respond to this thread(or warbler list II). Thanks to all who have contibuted. Please forgive any omissions I may have made.

OLD WORLD WARBLERS:

Chestnut-headed Tesia
Asian Stubtail
Japanese Bush-Warbler
Chestnut-crowned Bush-Warbler
Gray-sided Bush-Warbler
Cetti's Warbler
African Bush-Warbler
Grasshopper Warbler
Eurasian River Warbler
Savi's Warbler
Moustached Warbler
Sedge Warbler
Black-browed Reed-Warbler
Eurasian Reed-Warbler
Blyth's Reed-Warbler
Marsh Warbler
Great Reed-Warbler
Oriental Reed-Warbler
Clamorous Reed-Warbler
Lesser Swamp-Warbler
Thick-billed Warbler
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler
Melodious Warbler
Icterine Warbler
African Yellow Warbler
Common Tailorbird
Dark-necked Tailorbird
Rufous-tailed Tailorbird
Ashy Tailorbird
Senegal Eremomela
Green-backed Eremomela
Nothern Crombec
Willow Warbler
Common Chiffchaff
Iberian Chiffchaff
Bonelli's Warbler(Eastern)
Bonelli's Warbler(Western)
Wood Warbler
Dusky Warbler
Smoky Warbler
Tickell's Leaf-Warbler
Sulphur-bellied Warbler
Pale-rumped Warbler
Brook's Leaf-Warbler
Yellow-browed Warbler
Hume's Warbler
Arctic warbler
Greenish Warbler
Two-barred Warbler
Pale-legged Leaf-Warbler
Western Crowned Leaf-Warbler
Eastern Crowned Leaf-Warbler
Blyth's Leaf-Warbler
Golden-spectacled Warbler
Plain-tailed Warbler
Gray-hooded Warbler
Black-faced Warbler
Tawny Grassbird
Little Grassbird
Fernbird
Blackcap
Garden Warbler
Greater Whitethroat
Lesser Whitethroat
Small Whitethroat
Hume's Whitethroat
Barred Warbler
Eastern Orphean Warbler
Rueppell's Warbler
Subalpine Warbler
Sardinian Warbler
Cyprus Warbler
Spectacled Warbler
Dartford Warbler

"NEW WORLD WARBLERS"

Olive Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Virginia's Warbler
Lucy's Warbler
Flame-throated Warbler
Northern Parula
Tropical Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Hermit Warbler
Blackburian Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Grace's Warbler
Pine Warbler
Kirkland's Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Palm Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Black and White Warbler
American Redstart
Prohonotary Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Swainson's Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Kentucky Warbler
Mourning Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Olive Crowned Yellowthroat
Gray-Crowned Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Red-faced Warbler
Painted Warbler
Slate-throated Redstart
Collared Redstart
Spectacled Redstart
Fan-tailed Warbler
Choco Warbler
Black-crested Warbler
Russet-crowned Warbler
Golden-crowned Warbler
Rufous-capped Warbler
Golden-browed Warbler
Black-cheeked Warbler
Three-striped Warbler
Buff-rumped Warbler
Wrenthrush
Yellow-breasted Chat

Total- 138 species

[dennis]

O.K. you slackards! I've given you nearly 24 hours to find a new warbler and so far...nothing! This is totally unacceptable. Now get out there and scare one up. This year won't last forever!

Keep warblering,
dennis(hick! I gotta stop drinking this stuff)

[Michael Frankis]

If a Choco Warbler dies, is it a Choco late Warbler? o:D

Michael

[dennis]

Forgot to add two "old world" species:

Buff-barred Warbler
Whistler's Warbler

Clements' list includes (updated for splits) 291 old world warblers. One of those, the Large-billed Reed-Warbler of northern India, is probably extinct. It also lists 116 new world species including 2 which are probably extinct, Bachman's Warbler(southern U.S.) and Semper's Warbler(St. Lucia).

Discounting these we are left with 290 old world and 114 new world on our list of possible sightings.

To date:

76 of 290 old world (26.2%)
64 of 114 new world (56.1%)

140 of 404 total worldwide warbler species (34.6%)

Thanks to all who have contibuted.

dennis

[birdman]

Hi dennis,

I've not managed to add anything concrete to your continuing warbler threads, except for the tenuous association of compiling GGBC lists, which I know provided you with a few of the birds on your list.

However, I have found it fascinating to keep up with your list, and look forward to future additions.

Cheers

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Dennis,

With any luck (and some east winds!!) things should change for the better from mid September on, that's when vagrant central Asian wablers start turning up on the UK east coast.

Either that, or we need someone to sign up from, or go on holiday to, China!

Michael

[dennis]

Oh, Michael. The thought of going to China on a birding trip is just what I need today. Unlike our Canadian neighbors who are experiencing wild fires, we seem to be living in the northern Amazon River basin. It just won't stop raining. My binoculars are getting dusty.

Hey birdman. Maybe Michael, you and I should take a little walk on the Great Wall. Something to dream about as(checking the window) the the rain continues here.

dennis

[Glen Tepke]

Do you want hybrids? I've seen "Lawrence's Warbler" in New Hampshire, USA, in 2003. This is a hybrid between Blue-winged and Golden-winged. Actually, to be more specific, it is a back-cross between "Brewster's Warbler" and Golden-winged; "Brewster's" is a hybrid between Blue-winged and Golden-winged. Glen

[dennis]

Thanks Glen. Unlistable but a great find. Haven't had one around here in years. At one point, a Lawrence's returned to the same tree for at least 3 years in a local park. Won't be long till those Blues wipe out the Golden-wings here in Pa.

dennis

[alan_rymer]

Dennis

I'm suprised that no-one has picked up a Nigtingale in the UK yet!. There have been sigtings close to my home, but not by me unfortunateley

[dennis]

Hi Alan,

You had me scrambling to my books! Common Nightingale(Luscinia megarhynchos) is an Old World Flycatcher(not warbler). Although a sighting would be welcome to all in your parts if I understand their scarcity.

To any North American birders..... Anyone see a Cape May Warbler this year? Surprised not to see one myself.

dennis

[robinm]

Hi Dennis: I think you may confuse Alan here because his bird book will undoubtedly show Nightingale as being family Turdidae (chats and thrushes). Have we been here before!!!

PS: I have seen several this year - I posted a photo of one in the gallery.

[dennis]

Thanks Robin. We did go round and round before, didn't we! Well Alan, Clement's, "Birds of the World a Checklist" doesn't include that bird in HIS version of "old world warblers".

Wish they would come up with just one book with just one name for each species. Bet birdman would agree to that!(Think Global Bird Count)

dennis

[robinm]

Hi: Dennis. I'm with you on the global list. Birdman and I know all about world checklists from the GGBC! Not only is there no global agreement on families, we even can't agree on some scientific names - it's a nightmare.

Sorry I can't add anything more to your list. My sole addition for the year from my 10 days in Germany recently was marsh warbler (excellent views of bird singing down to 10 feet), and you've already got that.

[Hanno]

Hi Dennis,

I saw Grey-cheeked Warbler (Seicercus poliogenys), Hill Prinia (Prinia atrogularis), and Japanese White (Zosterops Japonicus) this mornig at Ham Rong Mountain, Sapa, Vietnam.

Previous birds seen this year, which I did not find on your list, were:

Plain Prinia (Samit Songkram, Thailand, 24/5)
Yellow-bellied Prinia (Sam Roi Yot, Thailand, 28/5)

Cheers,

Hanno

[dennis]

Thanks Hanno.

The Gray-cheeked Warbler makes our list.

The Japanese White-eye is considered(on this side of the oceans) to be a member of the White-eyes, family: Zosteropidae

The Prinias are considered in with the Cisticolas and Allies, family: Cisticolidae.

Other warblers that are amoung the missing and may be found in North Vietnam are: Bianchi's Warbler(Seicercus valentini)(formerly Golden-spectacled Warbler), Chestnut-crowned Warbler(Seicercus castaniceps), Rufous-faced Warbler(Abroscopus albogularis), Yellow-bellied Warbler(Abroscopus superciliaris).

Thanks again.
dennis

[Hanno]

OK on the White-eye, but according to "Birds of the Western Palearctic" and "Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania", Prinias etc. have not been raised to family status, rrather they are put as sub-family Sylviidae: Cisticolinae. But come to think of it, we had this discussion on these forums before, but I can't remeber the outcome.

[robinm]

Hanno: Yeah, denis and I had this discussion. It's because there is no worldwide agreement on what bird families are - something we both agree is dumb.

The outcome is that as this is denis's list we go (quite rightly) with the definitions as used in the US.

[Hanno]

OK, thanks for the enlightenment. Wouldn't it be great if one day all bodies could agree on a coomon formula. (Nahh, that is in the realm of fantasy).

[Hanno]

Going through your list one more time, I see that you don't seem to have Pallas's Leaf-warbler on it, which I saw in Sapa in January/February.

[dennis]

The Pallas's Leaf-warbler.... would that be Phylloscopus proregulus? Over here we call that species Lemon-rumped Warbler. Let me know if I'm on the correct species.

dennis

[Hanno]

Yes, it is Phylloscopus proregulus.

Hanno

[dennis]

Thanks Hanno.

Pallas's Leaf-warbler, a.k.a. Lemon-rumped Warbler makes the list!

Good job Hanno.

New totals:

78 of 290 "old world" (26.9%)
64 of 114 "new world" (56.1%)

142 of 404 (35.1%)

dennis

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Dennis,

Pallas's Warbler (Phylloscopus proregulus; breeds NE Asia) and Lemon-rumped Warbler (P. chloronotus; breeds Tibetan plateau) were split a few years ago.

As far as I can tell, P. proregulus will be much the commoner of the two in Vietnam, the main wintering area for P. chloronotus is further west in Burma etc.

Michael

[robinm]

Slightly off topic.

Michael: Very interesting and by doing a bit of searching on the web I was able to confirm what you write (not that I doubted you anyway). My interest (from doing the GGBC) is that none of the "World Bird Lists" that I have show this split. It is relatively easy for me to keep up with UK and US splits/lumps, but how am I supposed to keep up with others?

Apologies, Denis, for slightly hijacking your thread.

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Robin,

Granted it is difficult. I knew about this one as it got mentioned in British Birds when the split was made, not surprising given the popularity of Pallas's in Britain as a 'dream bird'. The relevant paper is:
Alström & Olsson (1990). Taxonomy of the Phylloscopus proregulus complex. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club 110: 38-47.
An interesting read, too, if you're into this sort of thing!

For Chinese birds more generally, most or all of the recent splits (including this one) are included in the new MacKinnon & Phillipps Field Guide.

Michael

[robinm]

Thanks, Michael.

I suspect having a totally accurate list of world birds is less likely than the Pallas's turning up in Britain!

[Hanno]

Well, to make all you British birders green with envy: In Beidahe 2 years ago, Happy Island was crawling with Pallas's Warblers. They are quite commin in Sapa up here as well, during winter anyway.
(Sorry for the off-topic, but couldn't resist)

[Michael Frankis]

Originally posted by robinm

I suspect having a totally accurate list of world birds is less likely than the Pallas's turning up in Britain!

Hi Robin,

Too true! I've seen a good dozen Pallas's in Britain, but not one single accurate world bird list yet. Somehow I think the latter is about as likely as a British record of Lemon-rumped Warbler . . .

Michael

[dennis]

Hi Michael and Robin,

I can't find that change either. Clements does not acknowledge the split.

Changes to "Birds of the World, a Checklist" are available at....

http://ibispub.com/updates.html

confused,
dennis

[dennis]

Oh, by the way.... Phylloscopus chloronotus is Pale-rumped Warbler in Clements' book. It's range is described as (Himalayas to se Tibet, ne India and s-central China.

Phylloscopes proregulus(Lemon-rumped Warbler) is split into two sub-species: P.p.proregulus(kansuensis) with a range of (Coniferous forests and taiga of e. Asia; winters to Indochina)

and... P.p. simlaensis with arange of (NW Himalayas(Afghanistan and Nepal))

Given these options, what has Hanno seen?

dennis

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Dennis,

Looks like Clements has got thoroughly confused over this species group, both over English names and subspecies allocation!!

Should be as follows:

Pallas's [Leaf] Warbler Phylloscopus proregulus (monotypic) breeding in coniferous forests (taiga) of NE Asia (roughly Novosibirsk east to the Pacific Coast, 43-60°N; wintering Indo-china & southern China; long-distance migrant)

Lemon-rumped Warbler Phylloscopus chloronotus (2-3 subspecies:)
P. c. chloronotus central Himalaya east to Sichuan
P. c. kansuensis Sichuan to Gansu, western China (33-37°N) doubtful race, probably synonymous with chloronotus
P. c. simlaensis breeding western Himalaya (Afghanistan to Nepal, intergrading with chloronotus in central/eastern Nepal
Winter range of P. chloronotus as a whole Ganges Valley to Burma (short-distance migrant)

Check out the Alström & Olsson paper or MacKinnon & Phillipps if you need more details. Hanno's will almost certainly be P. proregulus.

Michael

[dennis]

Given this new information I will record Hanno's sighting as Pallas's Leaf Warbler. If Clements has a problem with this...too bad!

Hanno, I should have listened to you from the start. I probably should drop Clements an e-mail.

Thanks Michael,

dennis

[Swift]

Dennis , recent trip to Mexico only revealed one that has not already made your list-Grey Throated Chat, however what is the current postion regarding "Mangrove Warbler" and "Golden Warbler" both were i believe several years ago on the verge of being split off from Yellow Warbler. If they have been then you can add them on. Mangrove was quite easy to see on the coast and Golden was seen on Cozumel Island.
Regards
Swift

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Swift,

Not split yet according to the list on the AOU website - still all Dendroica petechia.

But agreed, I've also read that a future split looks likely, in which event:
Yellow Warbler - Dendroica aestiva
Mangrove Warbler, including Golden Warbler - Dendroica petechia

Useful comment on the complex in Curson, Quinn & Beadle, New World Warblers

Michael

[logos]

Anyone interested in keeping up to date with splitting trends will find this site useful:

http://www.ornitaxa.com/SM/Split/NewSplits.html

Spud

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Spud,

Interesting list - but it doesn't distinguish at all between splits that have been accepted by any (or all) list authorities, and those which haven't. There's plenty in the main lists which haven't been widely accepted (e.g. splitting brent geese), but equally some in his 'splits lacking info' list which are officially accepted (e.g. Common/Black-billed Magpies). So it has to be read with a lot of knowledge already!

Also some dreadful vernacular name choices ;)

Michael

[logos]

As the site owner himself states this list is not designed to indicate what can and cannot be ticked, it merely shows what the candidates are and what publications may be used to support any taxonomic changes. There is a list of dutch (PSC) splits etc... here though:

http://www.wpbirds.com/WP%20birdspecies/Taxonomy/Taxonomy%20d.htm

Spud

[Steve Gross]

I only scanned the list, but I think that the Colima Warblers I saw in Big Bend National Park (July 27th or so) would be new additions to the list. Just trying to help. If the Painted Warbler and the Painted Redstart are different birds, add one more.

Steve in Houston

P.S. So far it's been a 42 warbler year (US only). Not too shabby.

[dennis]

Hi everyone!

Update.... Thanks to Swift for the Gray-throated Chat and Steve Gross for the Colima Warbler.

Our 2003 Forum warbler list now stands at 144 species(gross huh?)

78 "old world" species and 66 "new world"

Steve. I believe that Painted Redstart(Myioborus miniatus) is the species you observed.

Attention Texas birders... We still need the Golden-cheeked Warbler for the list. Anyone seen one this year?

I'll be heading to the Caribbean in November. Hope to fill in some warbler checkmarks when I return.

THINK WARBLERS!!!

dennis

[Larry Lade]

Hi Dennis,

I observed a beautiful male Cape May Warbler on May 17, 2003 at Bluff Woods Conservation Area, near Saint Joseph, MO. I did not see it in your list. Also, I noticed your have a Hoode Warbler on your list. This is, I suppose, a Hooded Warbler. :t:

[Steve Gross]

I did survey work on Golden-cheeks this spring. I had a 100 acre patch with 10 territories on it, A+ habitat. Sorry I didn't mention it before.

Steve in Houston

[dennis]

Thanks Larry and Steve. Golden-cheeked and Cape May Warblers are now on the list.

Yes Larry....Hooded Warbler.

Attention North American warbler watchers..... Has anyone seen Connecticut Warbler this year? It's still missing from our list.

dennis

[dennis]

Hello everyone,

Thanks to John Dempsey's trip to South Africa we are able to add 2 new warbler species to our year list:

Green-backed Camaroptera
African Reed Warbler

This brings our yearly sightings up to:

80 of 290 possible "old world" warblers
68 of 114 possible "new world"

for a total of 148 of 404 or 36.6%

Any new warbler sightings should be checked against this thread(particularly the first page) and reported here. Remember...we are using Clement's list so Cisticolas are considered a seperate family from old world warblers.

thanks,
dennis

[dennis]

Thanks to forum member Mark, who found Gray and Gold Warbler in Peru earlier this year. Caulk up one more for the new worlders.

dennis

[Larry Lade]

Dennis,

I was looking over the list again to see if there were any warblers I might be able to add. Noticed a typo, Overbird for Ovenbird. (Thought you might like to know)

Larry

[dennis]

Thanks Larry. I made the correction.

Keep warblering!
dennis

[Sumit]

Hi Dennis,
I can add:
Pale-footed Bush Warbler (Cettia pallidipes) from my recent trip to North-western India.
I will add more, hopefully, once I check my notes for 2003. Do you have Thick-billed and Paddyfield ?
Cheers!
Sumit

[Sumit]

I can also add:
Booted Warbler
Syke's Warbler
(both New Delhi, India April 03)
don't know if Striated Grassbird counts, but that was plentiful in Kolkata, India in 2003.
More later....
Sumit

[Charles Harper]

Aargh, just discovered this thread and have hacked my way through it with a machete. Do you have Japanese Marsh Warbler, Megalurus pryeri? If not, please take mine, seen on 8 June 2003. Everything else I've seen, I think, is already on your list.

[dennis]

Thank you Sumit and Charles.

Pale-footed Bush-Warbler
Paddyfield Warbler
Booted Warbler
Sykes' Warbler
Striated Grassbird
and Marsh Grassbird(aka. Japanese Marsh Warbler)

have made the list.

Charles. To make things a little easier I am going to start Warbler List IV with the total list to date.

Thanks,
dennis