"Blyth's complex" Leaf Warbler, Bangkok (1 Viewer)

This Phyllosc was photographed on my patch on 17th Jan, but news didn't get out for a week and I only relocated it this morning on my second attempt and got these images.

Discussion has concluded that it is part of the "Blyth's complex", of which the usual suspect is Claudia's in Bangkok. However the strongly yellow-washed underparts indicate that this is not a Claudia's (which is much more white).

Thoughts so far have been that it could be Hartert's or Ogilvie-Grant's - but these things seem poorly covered in the literature that I have. Hartert's would be a first for Thailand, but I have no idea about the distribution of Ogilvie-Grant's.

The bird was doing "the nuthatch thing" in terms of its forging technique,and did not vocalise whilst I watched it. It did take some interest in a tape I played of Hartert's, but did not call in response.

Any thoughts offered by those with more experience would be very gratefully received.

Thanks,

Dave

more images

more images attached here

Hi Dave,

When you say Ogilvie-Grant's, you mean Kloss's Leaf-warbler ogilviegranti, one of the White-tailed Leaf-warbler complex?

This looks more like Hartert's to me, the yellowish tones to the underparts, super and coronal. The pattern on the underside of the tail would support this from what I can see, though it would be nice if you could get some better shots of that. If you did mean Kloss's, the underside of the tail is wrong for that group as they are predominantly white with a dark outer edge only though Kloss's is, out of that complex, closer to Claudia's undertail wise. Behaviour would also obviously support Hartert's, typical of the Blyth's complex as you know. I agree, it certainly doesn't look like a typical Claudia's, though I have seen some rather bright yellow toned birds, the coronal tends to remain white.

Interesting bird, a very nice find and relocation, think you might have to put a bit more time in on this one.

Thanks very much Mark,

As you well know, the discussion is moving on on FaceBook with more photos from others today, and the consensus forming around Hartert's. We will see...

Thanks for clearing up that Kloss's is the same as Ogilvie-Grant's. it seems that every leaf warbler is named after some 19th Century gentleman naturalist!

Best wishes,

Dave

Congratulations to all those involved, and some very healthy discussion on the other channel regarding this bird, which appears to be the first Hartert's Leaf-warbler Phylloscopus goodsoni goodsoni for Thailand.

Be great if these could be shared with Opus Dave, always useful to have some comparison images amongst a very complex group. I should really have a bash at updating the text for Claudia's, as this is currently rather incomplete.