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PLATE 83: MISCELLANEOUS WARBLERS
Cetti’s Warbler Cettia cetti V
L: 13.5. Short-winged, round-tailed, rather robust-looking, warm brown warbler; keeps well-
concealed in thickets and more often heard than seen; song distinctive. Off-white below, tinged
rufous on flanks and breast-sides; vent and undertail-coverts brown with feathers fringed white;
uniform chestnut-brown tail often jerked or held cocked; rather thin but distinct white supercilium.
Voice Abruptly delivered song from well-concealed perch is a sudden, loud, explosive outburst
plit... plitiplitipliti... plhi-(pliti). Alarm call hard, forceful tlitt, or rapid, rattle, tlitt-tlitt-tlitt. Habitat
Dense vegetation, bushy thickets, mostly near streams, ditches and reedbeds. Note Winter
dispersal hatched; vagrant Oman, UAE.Streaked Scrub Warbler Scotocerca inquieta RB
L: 11. Recalls Graceful Prinia. Furtive; often in pairs or small groups and on the ground. Long, scarcely
graduated tail cocked and constantly manoeuvred; differs from Graceful Prinia in having blackish
tail, tipped white on underside of outer feathers. Distinct white supercilium, dark eye-stripe and
flat crown; breast finely streaked; bill yellow-horn and legs rather long. Voice Song thin di-di-di-
di-di, descending di-di-di-de-de, also dry dzit, dzit followed by warbling toodle toodle toodle. Calls
include drzip, dri-dirrirri, loud rolling tlyip-tlyip-tlyip, sometimes fast and descending; also scolding
prrt; alarm-note, sharp piping pip, often repeated. Contact call characteristic, disyllabic, clear dee-
düü, latter note lower. Habitat Rather barren, stony hillsides, semi-deserts and sandy plains with
low scrub, up to 2,600m. Builds domed nest in low bush. Note Descends to lower elevations in
winter. [Alt: Scrub Warbler]Graceful Prinia Prinia gracilis RB
L: 11. Small, active, variable (across subspecies) grey-buff warbler with long graduated tail,
frequently cocked and slightly fanned; narrowly streaked on crown, mantle and back; roundish head
and pale face with prominent eye, but without supercilium and eye-stripe (unlike Scrub Warbler);
tail dark above, paler below with black-and-white tips; underparts off-white, unstreaked (streaked
in Scrub Warbler); bill fine, black in breeding male, brown in female. Skulks in cover, but usually
confiding. Flight weak, the long tail being obvious. Voice Rather noisy. Song monotonous, winding
drrir-drrir-drrir-drrir-drrir or fast di-der di-der di-der di-der; chittering calls include an abrupt chlip; churr-
churr, metallic winding srrrrrrt, and hard tsiit or chig in alarm. Habitat Scrub and low vegetation;
cultivated areas, gardens, waste ground in villages and towns. Builds domed or cupped nest in low
bush or thick grass. Note Absent from much of central Oman.Zitting Cisticola Cisticola juncidis V
L: 10. Small, short-tailed warbler, most often seen in songflight. Crown and upperparts streaked
yellow-buff and black; face pale with prominent dark eye; tail rounded, often fanned in flight, with
black-and-white tips, most obvious from below in songflight. Voice Song diagnostic, in bounding
circular flight; consists of tzip notes repeated at regular intervals of a half to one second, with one
tzip on each bound; also a short kwit from cover. Habitat Fields, grassland, stream-sides, marshes.
Purse-shaped nest suspended in bush, long grass or crop. Note Vagrant Kuwait, Oman. [Alt: Fan-
tailed Warbler]