leaf warbler id (1 Viewer)

viator · Mar 6, 2006

Help appreciated with the following leaf warbler taken 5th Mar in Shanghai. Note these come from two seperate sightings about 20m and 10min apart so could be two different individuals - the first three photos are the first individual.

Andrew Whitehouse · Mar 6, 2006

I'd tentatively suggest Pale-legged Leaf Warbler.

Larry Sweetland · Mar 7, 2006

Andrew Whitehouse said:
I'd tentatively suggest Pale-legged Leaf Warbler.

No words of wisdom, but I thought I'd post a reply as this bird is fast disappearing down the list and may get ignored, and I'd love to hear some ideas from Phyllosc experts, even if they can't tell what it is.

eg. why isn't it an Arctic Warbler ? ( Are there features not reliant on subtle shade of crown and upper-tail covts that can be used to separate Arctic from Pale-legged/Sakhalin ?)
and any new ideas about separation of Pale-legged and Sakhalin ?

I've only knowingly seen one Pale-legged /Sakhalin Leaf Warbler on Kho Chang in SE Thailand. It appeared much paler legged than the photos of this /these birds and had very brown upperparts. The call was very different to Arctic and it fed mostly 3m or more above the ground.

sphinx79 · Mar 7, 2006

Larry Wheatland said:
eg. why isn't it an Arctic Warbler ? .

Hi Larry,
What rules out Arctic Warbler, among other things, is the double wingbar and
the thickness of the greater covert bar (thinner on Arctic). The prominent yellowish fringes to the tertials and flight feathers are also wrong for Arctic, which has a rather uniform wing. In terms of the Sibes that turn up in Europe, the bird looks closest to Yellow-browed Warbler. I haven't birded in East Asia and am not familiar with the wide variety of phylloscopus that can be encountered there.
Rgds
Greg

Edward woodwood · Mar 7, 2006

Pale-legged Leaf could be a good shout...

I need to get home and check my notes and books though....

a double barred palish/greyish-backed phyllosc with legs like that would make me think PLL too Andy

Dave J · Mar 7, 2006

Hi Tim

Surely the dark tertials with broad pale fringes instantly rule out Pale-legged or Arctic ?

Dave

Dave J · Mar 7, 2006

Larry Wheatland said:
and any new ideas about separation of Pale-legged and Sakhalin ?

QUOTE]

Hi Larry

I think song is still the only reliable way to seperate Pale-legged and Sakhalin.

Dave

Larry Sweetland · Mar 7, 2006

Aaagh ! How embarassing, can't believe I didn't register the double-wing bar !, even though I thought the tertial fringes shouldn't have been so contrasty on Arctic and was wondering if this was a feature. I should get out more.

Frenchy · Mar 8, 2006

I'm 95% sure these are just Yellow-browed Warbler. The wing pattern of two good wingbars separated by dark greater coverts and pale tips to the tertials is only really shown by the yellow-browed/yellow-rumped groups of phylloscs, and the head pattern doesn't look good for Pallas' or any of the other yellow-rumped lot. So i'll plump for the commonest bird out there - Yellow-browed Warbler. I'm not an expert on eastern phylloscs however, so any other ideas...??

Andrew Whitehouse · Mar 8, 2006

To me the supercillium looks an odd shape for a Yellow-browed - more like an Arctic Warbler, with that long downward kink. Also, the bill seems quite long and robust.

viator · Mar 8, 2006

Interesting that we're still trying on this one!

Unfortunately when I saw it/them it was silent the whole time as it was very busily hawking the large number of small insects flying out of the reedy pond I was next to - a call could have certainly picked between a PLL and a Yellow-browed. If it is a Yellow-browed I can never recall one being silent for as long as this was (admittedly most of the 10-15min it was around I was more interested in photographing the pair of Zitting Cisticola and several Plain Prinia's coming out of the bushes...)

As with Andrew when I saw it and even more so when looking at the photos, I was thrown by the supercillium and the bill does seem very robust. However, I'd discounted an Arctic as the tail seems quite long relative to the wings.

Simon Pinder · Mar 8, 2006

Looks very similar to the March yellow-browed that was in north norfolk a couple of years ago, 2003 I think.

Dave J · Mar 8, 2006

I must say this bird is giving me a headache. It quite simply can't be a Pale-legged Leaf because of the tertials, as i said before. Others features look wrong as well, including size of wing bars and colour of upperparts (Although i accept this is variable). But others features apart, the tertials rule out this species.
Going by plumage alone, i could'nt come to any other conclusion than that this bird was a Yellow-browed, as Frenchy says. That said, and i know i'm contradicting myself, it just dose'nt look 'right' for Yellow-browed.I understand completely what Andrew says about the supercilium and general jizz not being good for this species.
So, basically i've repeated what i already said and added nothing useful to the debate !

But if forced to put a name to it, i'd have to say Yellow-browed.
Dave

Edward woodwood · Mar 8, 2006

sorry guys

completely forgot about this last nite

will have a look later.

shouldn't be too tricky with the book i don't think....

Frenchy · Mar 8, 2006

Don't forget that over here, we are used to seeing nice fresh Yellow-broweds in autumn, and they are duller in spring. All of the arctic wblr/pale-legged leaf wblr/eastern crowned etc etc can be ruled out by the tertial pattern and contrastingly dark greater coverts. The jizz of yellow-browed is surprisingly variable, from dumpy little pallas'-like things to quite elongated and almost strong looking. Depends on the circumstances really. Now the inability to see the rump in the photos might be a problem, as i have no real clue as to chinese leaf wblr, or anything exciting like that. Still feels like a yellow-browed to me though.

leaf warbler id (1 Viewer)

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