Inornate Warbler
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The yellow-browed warbler (''Phylloscopus inornatus'') is a
leaf warbler Leaf warblers are small insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Phylloscopus''. Leaf warblers were formerly included in the Old World warbler family but are now considered to belong to the family Phylloscopidae, introduced in 2006 ...
(
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Phylloscopidae) which breeds in the east
Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...
. This
warbler Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous. Sylvioid warblers T ...
is strongly migratory and winters mainly in
tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
and
South-east Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Australian mainland, which is part of Oceania. Southeast Asia i ...
, but also in small numbers in western
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
. Like the rest of Phylloscopidae, it was formerly included in the
Old World warbler The Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. They are not closely related to the New World warblers. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxo ...
assemblage. It was formerly considered to comprise three
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
, but ''P. i. humei'' and ''P. i. mandellii'' are now split as a separate species,
Hume's leaf warbler Hume's leaf warbler or Hume's warbler (''Phylloscopus humei'') is a small leaf warbler which breeds in the mountains of inner Asia. This warbler is bird migration, migratory and winters mainly in India. The English name and the specific ''humei' ...
''P. humei'', leaving ''P. inornatus''
monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...
. The two
sister species In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...
differ slightly but consistently in
morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...
,
bioacoustics Bioacoustics is a cross-disciplinary science that combines biology and acoustics. Usually it refers to the investigation of sound production, dispersion and reception in animals (including humans). This involves neurophysiology, neurophysiological ...
, and molecular characters.Svensson, L., Mullarney, K., & Zetterström, D. (2010). ''Collins Bird Guide'', 2nd ed. HarperCollins . Before the species was split, the names yellow-browed willow warbler and inornate warbler were used by a few authors.


Taxonomy

The yellow-browed warbler was first described by the English zoologist
Edward Blyth Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the Asiatic Society, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta. He set about updating the museum ...
in 1842 and given the
binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
''Regulus inornatus''. The current genus name ''Phylloscopus'' is from
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
''phullon'', "leaf", and ''skopos'', "seeker" (from ''skopeo'', "to watch"). The specific ''inornatus'' is
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
for "plain".


Description

This is one of the smaller Old World warblers, at 9.5–11 cm long and weighing 4–9 g distinctly smaller than a chiffchaff but slightly larger than
Pallas's leaf warbler Pallas's leaf warbler (''Phylloscopus proregulus'') or Pallas's warbler, is a bird that breeds in mountain forests from southern Siberia east to northern Mongolia and northeast China. It is named after the German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas, w ...
. Like many other
leaf warbler Leaf warblers are small insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Phylloscopus''. Leaf warblers were formerly included in the Old World warbler family but are now considered to belong to the family Phylloscopidae, introduced in 2006 ...
s, it has overall greenish upperparts and white underparts. It also has prominent double wing bars formed by yellowish-white tips to the wing covert feathers (a long bar on the greater coverts and a short bar on the median coverts), yellow-margined tertial feathers, and long yellow
supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...
. Some individuals also have a faint paler green central crown stripe though many do not show this. It is not shy, but its arboreal life style makes it difficult to observe. It is almost constantly in motion. Its song is a high-pitched medley of whistles; the call is piercing, often disyllabic "tseeweest", strikingly loud for the bird's small size. The only real possibility of confusion is with the similar-looking
Hume's leaf warbler Hume's leaf warbler or Hume's warbler (''Phylloscopus humei'') is a small leaf warbler which breeds in the mountains of inner Asia. This warbler is bird migration, migratory and winters mainly in India. The English name and the specific ''humei' ...
(''P. humei''), which in the limited area of overlap has duller colours, a faint second wing bar and dark legs and lower mandible. Their songs and calls are clearly distinct, with Hume's having a more chirping "chwee" call. It can easily be distinguished from Pallas's warbler as it does not have the conspicuous yellow central crown stripe and rump patch shown by that species.


Ecology and distribution

Like most warblers, it is
insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores we ...
. The nest is built in dense vegetation often at the base of a tree or old stump; two to four (occasionally more) eggs are laid, hatching after 11–14 days, with the chicks fledging when 12–13 days old. This is an abundant bird of lowland and
montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...
s and woodlands; particularly in winter it may also be found in more open woods. Its breeding range extends from just west of the
Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.
eastwards to eastern
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
,
Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
and
Northeast China Northeast China () is a geographical region of China, consisting officially of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over . The regi ...
. Its winter
habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
is lowland broadleaf or
conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...
ous forest, from
West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...
and
Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...
in northeastern India east through southern
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
to
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
, and through
Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
south to the
Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...
. In summer, it occurs at altitudes of up to 2,440 m, and in winter, up to 1,525 m. The European breeding population west of the Urals has increased westwards in recent decades; in 1950 it was described as 'fairly scarce', but 'locally abundant' with 45,000–46,000 pairs in 1990. Small numbers, most likely from the western end of the breeding range, regularly winter in western Europe. These arrive in
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
in late September and October after a 3,000–3,500 km migration from the Urals, a markedly shorter distance than the 5,500–6,000 km they would need to fly to reach the normal wintering areas in southeastern Asia. Exact numbers in this population are unknown, but typically several hundred are found arriving in Great Britain each autumn; given their unobtrusive behaviour, this is probably only a fraction of the total. In the past widely considered to be
vagrants Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western countries, ...
, these birds are now thought to be undertaking a normal regular migration, able to take advantage of the mild
oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...
winters on the western fringes of Europe for wintering. A common species in most of its wide range, the yellow-browed warbler is not considered
threatened A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...
by the
IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...
. Hume's leaf warbler overlaps its breeding range with yellow-browed warbler in the western
Sayan Mountains The Sayan Mountains (, ; ) are a mountain range in southern Siberia spanning southeastern Russia (Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tuva and Khakassia) and northern Mongolia. Before the rapid expansion of the Tsardom of Russia, the mou ...
, but the species apparently do not
hybridise In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different varieties, subspecies, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Generally, it means that each cell has genetic material from two dif ...
. Their lineages diverged roughly 2.5
million years ago Million years ago, abbreviated as Mya, Myr (megayear) or Ma (megaannum), is a unit of time equal to (i.e. years), or approximately 31.6 teraseconds. Usage Myr is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used w ...
.Ernst (1996), Irwin ''et al.'' (2001)


Footnotes


References

* * Ernst, S. (1996): Zweiter Beitrag zur Vogelwelt des Östlichen Altai Second contribution regarding the avifauna of the Sayan Mountains" ''Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum Berlin'' 72, ''Suppl. Ann. Ornithol''. 20: 123–180
n German N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
* Inskipp, Carol; Inskipp, Tim & Sherub (2000)
The ornithological importance of Thrumshingla National Park, Bhutan.
''
Forktail The forktails are small insectivorous birds in the genus ''Enicurus''. They were formerly placed in the thrush family, Turdidae, but are now treated as part of the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. Their common name derives from their l ...
'' 14: 147–162. * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q330318
yellow-browed warbler The yellow-browed warbler (''Phylloscopus inornatus'') is a leaf warbler (family (biology), family Phylloscopidae) which breeds in the east Palearctic. This warbler is strongly bird migration, migratory and winters mainly in tropical South Asia ...
Birds of North Asia Birds of Manchuria Wintering birds of Indochina
yellow-browed warbler The yellow-browed warbler (''Phylloscopus inornatus'') is a leaf warbler (family (biology), family Phylloscopidae) which breeds in the east Palearctic. This warbler is strongly bird migration, migratory and winters mainly in tropical South Asia ...
yellow-browed warbler The yellow-browed warbler (''Phylloscopus inornatus'') is a leaf warbler (family (biology), family Phylloscopidae) which breeds in the east Palearctic. This warbler is strongly bird migration, migratory and winters mainly in tropical South Asia ...