Mrs. Moreau's Warbler - BirdForum Opus

Alternative name: Winifred's Warbler

Includes Rubeho Warbler

Identification

Length 13 cm.

Male: Bright rufous crown, face, throat and breast; grey-brown back and wings and grey belly.

Female and juvenile: Duller than the male; the brown of the back extend to the nape and crown.

Endemic to the Uluguru Mountains and the Rubeho–Ukaguru Mountains of Tanzania.

Two subspecies recognized:

S. w. winifredae in eastern Tanzania (Uluguru Mountains) - sometimes split as Winifried's Warbler
S. w. rubehoensis in eastern Tanzania (Ukaguru and Rubeho Mountains) - sometimes split as Rubeho Warbler

Sometimes placed in the genus Bathmocercus.

Thick undergrowth in montane forest.

Classified as Vulnerable in the 2009 IUCN Red List.^[1]

Forages close to, or on the ground. Difficult to locate if not calling.

High-pitched whistles seeee seeee seeee and wheeooo.

BirdLife International. 2009. Species factsheet: Bathmocercus winifredae. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 27/9/2009.
Bowie, RCK, J Fjeldsa and J Kiure. 2009. Multilocus molecular DNA variation in Winifred's Warbler Scepomycter winifredae suggests cryptic speciation and the existence of a threatened species in the Rubeho–Ukaguru Mountains of Tanzania. Ibis 151, 709 - 719.
Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Gill, F, M Wright and D Donsker. 2009. IOC World Bird Names (version 2.0). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Mrs. Moreau's Warbler. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Mrs._Moreau%27s_Warbler