The Emei leaf warbler (''Phylloscopus emeiensis'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of leaf warbler (

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Phylloscopidae Leaf warblers are small insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Phylloscopus''. Leaf warblers were formerly included in the Old World warbler family but are now considered to belong to the family Phylloscopidae, introduced in 20 ...

). It was formerly included in the "

Old World warbler Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the ci ...

" assemblage. It breeds in

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 ...

, and it is vagrant in

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 ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The relationships are uncertain, but a study based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b and 12S and nuclear myoglobin intron 2 revealed no evidence for a close relationship to the morphologically similar Blyth's leaf warbler ''P. reguloides'' complex.

Description

The Emei leaf warbler is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

, measuring in length. Its crown is greyish-green, slightly darker at rear than in front, with a pale median crown-stripe that is poorly marked in front, and slightly but noticeably broader, paler and more distinct at rear. It has a prominent pale yellowish-tinged supercilium and a distinct dark eye-stripe; the rest of ear-coverts are paler, with faint dark mottling. Its upperparts are dull green, clearly paler than the sides of its crown and eye-stripe. The wings and tail are primarily greenish, with distinct pale yellowish tips to the median coverts and broad pale yellowish tips to greater coverts, forming two prominent wing-bars. Its outermost tail-feather has a whitish edge measuring less than on the inner web and an indistinctly paler tip; the second outermost tail-feather has an even less distinct pale inner edge and tip. The bird's underside is whitish, indistinctly streaked with pale yellowish, and with slightly more yellowish undertail-coverts. Its iris is dark brown. Its upper mandible is blackish while the lower is pale orange. The tarsus, toes and claws are pinkish-grey, but the tarsus is slightly paler than the toes and claws. The Emei leaf warbler is very similar to the

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

Claudia's leaf warbler, but differs mainly in having a less contrasting crown pattern, with lighter lateral crown-stripes and a darker median crown-stripe. The Emei leaf warbler's estimated generation length is .

Distribution

Breeds locally in

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

and

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

provinces, China and has recently been found to breed also in Shaanxi province, China. Appears on the breeding grounds in the latter part of April. One non-breeding record from southeast Myanmar. Number of mature individuals: No available data, but not known to be numerous anywhere.

Habitat

The Emei leaf warbler breeds in temperate deciduous broadleaved forest, sometimes with some spruce, ''Picea'' or ''Abies''. It has been found to favour a mix of old secondary and replanted broadleaved forest, with lower densities in primary broadleaved forest. It has been recorded at 1000–2200 m in the breeding season.

Behavior

Diet

Though the Emei leaf warbler is known to eat insects, there are currently no studies to support that claim.

Breeding

Based on male singing activity, the breeding period presumably begins in the mid of to the late of April. However, there is no data to support that hypothesis.

Vocalization

The song is a clear, slightly quivering, straight trill between about , usually lasting . Every male displays several verse types; up to eight have been recorded from a single individual. The song is very different from those of the sympatric Claudia's leaf warbler and Kloss's leaf warbler. The call is a soft ''tu-du-du'', ''tu-du'', or ''tu-du-du-du'', somewhat resembling one of the calls of

European greenfinch The European greenfinch or simply the greenfinch (''Chloris chloris'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. This bird is widespread throughout Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia. It is mainly resident, but some north ...

, but clearly different from the calls of Claudia's and Kloss's leaf warblers.

Etymology

The genus name ''Phylloscopus'' means “leaf gleaning” and the species name ''emeiensis'' refers to the

mount Emei Mount Emei (; ), alternately Mount Omei, is a mountain in Sichuan Province, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of the Sichuan Basin. The mountains west of it are know ...

, where the species was first discovered.

Conservation status

Though its total population size is unknown, and it is nowhere common, the population of Emei leaf warblers appears to be stable, so the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

rates it as a species of ''

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3234843 Emei leaf warbler Birds of Central China Endemic birds of China Emei leaf warbler Emei leaf warbler Emei leaf warbler Taxonomy articles created by Polbot