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SPECIES GUIDE >> WARBLERS PART III

Hume’s Warbler Phylloscopus humei

Hume’s Warbler Phylloscopus humei
coyright Sumit Sen

This small, dumpy warbler is the commonest wintering warbler in the Delhi region. Hume’s Warbler breeds in the Himalayas from Pakistan, across to Bhutan, and winters in the plains across much of northern and central India. It occurs in wooded areas, including parks and gardens and its loud penetrating disyllabic too-leet call which it delivers persistently, is a characteristic sound of winter birding in suitable habitat. There can be some variation in calls though, with a rather more slurred version chwee eeee, which can recall that of Greenish Warbler (see below) as well as a much less frequently heard higher pitched and drawn-out pweeeeer. The latter is heard mainly in late winter and early spring and appears to be part of the spring song. It is a rather dingy looking bird, with a greyish wash to the underparts, often with grubby smudges on the breast. The ear coverts are greyish white (sometimes with a slightly buffy tone when the plumage is fresh) with a slight mottling. The upperparts are dull greyish-green. It has a whitish supercilium, becoming bolder behind the eye, a dark eyestripe and whitish wing bars, although usually only one bar is clearly visible, especially in late winter when the plumage is worn. The tertials show pale edges. Sometimes a slightly

paler central line on the crown is discernible, but usually the crown appears as a uniform greyish-green. The bill almost always appears all dark, although in a very few individuals the base of the lower mandible may appear pale when seen at close quarters. The legs are blackish-brown. Hume’s Warblers forage actively in the foliage, frequently flicking their wings, but hovering much less often than other species. Like Brook’s Leaf Warblers, wintering Hume’s Warblers do tend to stay within defined home ranges.

Hume’s Warbler used to be considered a race of Yellow-browed Warbler, but they are now treated as separate species. The Yellow-browed Warbler has a rather more eastern breeding range than Hume’s and winters mainly east of Central Nepal, in Bangladesh, as well as southern India. It is a rather brighter and cleaner-looking bird than Hume’s, with yellower wingbars and a yellow supercilium. The underparts are whiter whilst the upperparts have a yellowish tinge to the olive green. There is stronger mottling to the ear coverts and on the wings, the area between the wing bars (the centres of the greater coverts) is darker and the edges of the secondaries are a brighter yellow-green than shown on Hume’s. However, in the spring when the plumage is worn, Yellow-browed Warblers lose some of their brightness and become rather greyer, which can make them harder to tell apart. Yellow-browed Warblers have an easily visible pale base to the lower mandible and the legs are generally paler brown. However, the easiest way to separate the two species is by call. Yellow-browed Warblers have a tsweeest call with a distinctive rising inflection, whereas the disyllabic call of Hume’s is flatter.

Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus
coyright Sumit Sen

Greenish Warbler Phylloscopus trochiloides

Greenish Warbler Phylloscopus trochiloides
coyright Sumit Sen

The Greenish Warbler occurs in the north-west Indian foothills and plains mainly as a common passage migrant between its breeding grounds in the Himalayas and its wintering grounds in central, eastern and southern India. However, a few individuals do overwinter. It is a small, slender, sometimes quite elongated, warbler found in wooded habitat, including parks and gardens, foraging mainly in the canopy, but will on occasion drop down to lower levels. It is an active feeder, searching for invertebrates by gleaning, sometimes hovering and also making sallies to catch insects in flight. Its upperparts are mossy olive green with a yellowish-white long and narrow supercilium, which tends to broaden behind the eye. The underparts are whitish, sometimes with a slight yellowish-green hue on the throat and upper breast. The wings are rather plain, lacking the contrast shown on Hume’s and Yellow-browed Warblers. Usually a single whitish wing bar is present, which is rather neater and finer than on Hume’s and Yellow-browed. Sometimes a faint trace of a second wing bar may be discernible, whilst a bird in very worn plumage may not show a wing bar at all. There is no crown stripe. The lower mandible is pale whilst the legs are greyish brown. The call

is a loud, rather slurred disyllabic tchii-slii. As mentioned above, this can be similar to one of the variants of Hume’s Warbler’s calls, but tends to be rather stronger. They are not easy to separate however, so it is always a good idea to try to check the identification by seeing the bird as well.

Sometimes considered conspecific to Greenish Warbler, the Green Warbler winters mainly in southern India and Sri Lanka, but can occur on passage elsewhere. It is extremely similar to Greenish Warbler in both appearance and habits, the differences are subtle, but it is a rather brighter bird, with yellowish (rather than whitish) wing bars and a distinct yellowish wash to the cheeks, throat and upper breast. The supercilium is yellower than in Greenish Warbler and ends just before the bill, whereas with Greenish Warbler the supercilium extends onto the forehead. Like Greenish, the lower mandible is pale. The call is a somewhat trisyllabic shhuzizit.

Next month, I will conclude this series on warblers by looking at the remaining group of Phylloscopus warblers occurring in North India.

Again, many thanks to Bill Harvey for his helpful comments on this feature.

delhibird would like to thank all the photographers who have, very kindly, allowed us to use their photographs to illustrate the above article

General Editors: Bikram Grewal & Bill Harvey

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