Passeriformes / Phylloscopidae / Phylloscopus
Hume's Leaf Warbler
Phylloscopus humei · 淡眉柳莺
Introduction
A small leaf warbler breeding in the mountains of inner Asia and migrating to winter mainly in India. It inhabits mountain woodlands at altitudes up to 3,500 m ASL. The species is insectivorous, builds nests on the ground, and is considered common across its wide range with no threatened status according to the IUCN.
Description
One of the smallest Old World warblers, featuring greenish upperparts and off-white underparts. It possesses a long supercilium, a crown stripe, and yellow-margined tertial remiges. Distinctive markings include only one prominent light wing bar with just a faint vestige of a second shorter bar, overall duller colours, a dark lower mandible, and dark legs.
Identification
Very similar to the yellow-browed warbler but distinguished by having only one prominent wing bar (versus two) and duller plumage. The best vocal distinction is a more disyllabic call, whereas the song is buzzing and high-pitched. It has a dark lower mandible and legs.
Distribution & Habitat
Breeds in mountain woodlands from the Hindu Kush and Karakoram east and north to the Tien Shan in China and the Altay Mountains in Mongolia. The allopatric subspecies mandellii occurs on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Migrates over the Himalayas to winter in India and adjacent regions, with records in the Kutch region. Non-breeding adults visit subtropical and temperate montane humid forests in Bhutan (2,000–3,500 m ASL). Prone to vagrancy in autumn as far as western Europe and is a rare late autumn and winter vagrant in Great Britain.
Behavior & Ecology
Insectivorous and constantly in motion, though its arboreal lifestyle and cryptic colours make it difficult to observe. It is not shy. The nest is built on the ground. Eastern and western populations show differences in mtDNA sequences and calls but not songs; they are reproductively isolated by allopatry.
Conservation
A common species in most of its wide range and not considered threatened by the IUCN.
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Taxonomy
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Phylloscopidae
- Genus
- Phylloscopus
Vocalizations
Subspecies (2)
-
Phylloscopus humei humei
breeds from northeastern Afghanistan eastward to the northwestern Himalayas in southwestern China (Xinjiang) and northwestern India; winters in southern Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India
Data Sources
Species description from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Bird images and sounds sourced from GBIF, contributed by citizen scientists worldwide under Creative Commons licenses.
Taxonomy data from AviList 2025.
