Birdwatch UK October 2017

http://www.birdguides.com/birdwatch Birdwatch•October 2017 39

IDENTIFICATION

❯

REBECCA NASON (WWW.REBECCANASON.COM)

2 Yellow-browed Warbler (Fair

Isle, Shetland, 28 September

2007). This fresh autumn Yellow-

browed Warbler is showing its

features to perfection: a small,

compact, slightly short-tailed

structure, bright ‘green above

and white below’ appearance, a

long, creamy-white supercilium,

strong white wing-bars on both

the median and greater coverts,

and crisp white fringes to the

tertials; this last feature is also

shown by Hume’s Leaf and

Pallas’s Warblers. Note also the

typical bare parts coloration:

extensive orange in the bill base

and orangey hues in the legs and

especially the feet.

2

TONY DIXON LAURENCE PITCHER

MIKE DANZENBAKER (WWW.AGAMI.NL) MARKUS VARESVUO (WWW.BIRDPHOTO.FI)

5 Eastern Crowned Warbler (Bempton Cliffs RSPB, East Yorkshire,

6 October 2016). In life this bird should be obvious as a larger

Phylloscopus warbler, but a quick look at the wholly plain tertials should

confirm this diagnosis. The narrow double wing-bars might initially

suggest an Arctic Warbler, but the most obvious feature is the greyish-

olive crown with a central stripe. The only large Phylloscopus on the

British list with this head pattern is Eastern Crowned Warbler.

3 Hume’s Leaf Warbler (Almaty, Kazakhstan, 19 May 2013). Though

somewhat worn (note the narrow wing-bars and tertial edges), this spring

Hume’s Leaf Warbler still shows a number of important differences from

Yellow-browed. Note the rather drab greyish hues in the upperparts and

the dull greyish-white underparts. The face pattern is subdued, the bill is

more extensively dark and the legs and feet are also dark.

4 Pallas’s Warbler (Utã, Finland, 13 October 2010). This bird is

instantly recognisable as a Pallas’s Warbler by its dark olive crown,

prominent, well-defined yellow central crown stripe, and strong face

pattern with a solid dark loral line and eyestripe and a broad and

bright yellow supercilium. There are also strong yellow hues in the

wing-bars.

6 Pale-legged Leaf Warbler (St Agnes, Scilly, 21 October 2016). The

plain tertials confirm that this is one of the larger Phylloscopus warblers.

The narrow double wing-bar (very faint on the median coverts) could

suggest Arctic or Eastern Crowned, but there is no central crown stripe.

Is it an Arctic? Closer examination reveals a contrasting greyish crown

and strikingly pale, almost ‘ghostly’, pink legs. These are both features

of the Sakhalin Leaf/Pale-legged Leaf Warbler species pair.

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1710 p37-43 ID photo guide leaf warblers FIN.indd 39 15/09/2017 11:28:45