Tickell's leaf warbler (''Phylloscopus affinis'') is a
leaf warbler found in Asia in the countries of
Bangladesh,
Bhutan,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
India,
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
,
Nepal,
Pakistan and
Thailand.
The species has a yellowish underside and supercilium. Like other leaf warblers it feeds mostly on insects by gleaning and short sallies. An active bird, it prefers the canopy and low shrubbery and can be difficult to track as it moves actively from branch to branch, acrobatically exploring the underside of leaves and twigs. The clear yellowish undersides and lack of a wing bar can be used to tell it apart from similar species. It has slim dark legs with largely pale lower mandible and grayish wing panel.
Taxonomy
Tickell's leaf warbler was
formally described in 1833 by the English ornithologist
Samuel Tickell. He coined the
binomial name
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''Motacilla offinis'' where ''offinis'' is an error for ''affinis''. Tickell's leaf warbler is now one of around 80 species placed in the genus ''
Phylloscopus'' that was introduced by the German zoologist
Friedrich Boie in 1826.
The genus name combines the
Ancient Greek ''phullon'' meaning "leaf" and ''skopos'' meaning "seeker" (from ''skopeo'', "to watch"). The specific epithet ''affinis'' is from Latin meaning "related" or "allied".
Three
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
are recognised:
[
* ''P. a. affinis'' (Tickell, 1833) – east Himalayas from Nepal to southeast Tibet
* ''P. a. perflavus'' Martens, J, Sun & Päckert, 2008 – west Himalayas from Pakistan to north India
* ''P. a. occisinensis'' Martens, J, Sun & Päckert, 2008 – west-central China
The subspecies ''P. a. occisinensis'' was formerly treated as a separate species, the Alpine leaf warbler. It is now lumped with the Tickell's leaf warbler based on the results of a 2019 study that compared nuclear genomic data for the two taxa.]
Breeding
During the months of May to August the Tickell's leaf warbler creates a nest made of dry grasses and plant fibers. The bird breeds among rocks and low bushes in barren mountains.
References
External links
Images at ADW
Tickell's leaf warbler
Birds of the Himalayas
Birds of Central China
Tickell's leaf warbler
{{Phylloscopidae-stub