Hume's leaf warbler or Hume's warbler (''Phylloscopus humei'') is a small
leaf warbler
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 ...
which breeds in the mountains of inner
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
. This warbler is
migratory and winters mainly in India.
The English name and the specific ''humei'' bird commemorate
Allan Octavian Hume, a British civil
servant and ornithologist based in India. The genus name ''Phylloscopus'' is from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
''phullon'', "leaf", and ''skopos'', "seeker" (from ''skopeo'', "to watch").
Like most similar
songbirds, 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.
Description
Hume's leaf warbler is one of the smallest "
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 ...
s". Like most other
leaf warbler
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 ...
s, it has greenish upperparts and off-white underparts. With its long
supercilium
The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...
, crown stripe and yellow-margined tertial
remige
Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...
s, it is very similar to the
yellow-browed warbler
The yellow-browed warbler (''Phylloscopus inornatus'') is a leaf warbler (family Phylloscopidae) which breeds in the east Palearctic. This warbler is strongly migratory and winters mainly in tropical South Asia and South-east Asia, but also in s ...
(''P. inornatus''). However, it has only one prominent light wing bar, just a faint vestige of the second shorter wing bar, and overall duller colours. It also has a dark lower
mandible
In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...
and legs.
Its song is buzzing and high-pitched. The best distinction from the yellow-browed warbler is the more disyllabic call. While the eastern and western Hume's leaf warblers already show noticeable differences in
mtDNA sequence
In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is calle ...
and calls, their songs do not differ; they are reproductively isolated only by
allopatry and not usually considered separate species.
Ecology and evolution
This is a common
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
of mountain woodlands at altitudes of up to 3,500m
ASL
American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...
. It occurs from the
Hindu Kush and
Karakoram
The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...
east and north to the
Tien Shan
The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
in China and the
Altay Mountains in Mongolia. The completely
allopatric
Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...
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 ...
''mandellii'' (Mandell's leaf warbler or eastern Hume's warbler) – sometimes separated as a full
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 ...
, in which case the
nominate 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 ...
is called western Hume's warbler – occurs on the eastern
Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the Ti ...
. Both populations
migrate
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration
* Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another
** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
over the
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
to winter in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and adjacent regions. The species has also been recorded in the Kutch region.
Particularly on autumn migration, this tiny warbler is prone to vagrancy as far as western Europe, despite a 3,000 km distance from its breeding grounds. It is a rare vagrant in late autumn and winter in Great Britain. Non-breeding adults may stray around a lot in summer, when Mandell's leaf warblers are fairly common summer visitors to
subtropical
The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...
and
temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
montane humid
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present.
Humidity depen ...
forests of
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
, around 2,000-3,500 m
ASL
American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...
and dominated by
Bhutan fir
''Abies densa'', the Bhutan fir, is a conifer species in the family Pinaceae. It is sometimes included in the East Himalayan fir (''A. spectabilis'') as a variety.
Found in Bhutan, China, India, and Nepal, it is not considered a threatened spe ...
(''Abies densa'') or by
Himalayan hemlock
''Tsuga dumosa'', commonly called the Himalayan hemlock or in Chinese, Yunnan tieshan (), is a species of conifer native to the eastern Himalayas. It occurs in parts of Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Vietnam and Tibet. Within its native range th ...
(''Tsuga dumosa'') and
rhododendron
''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...
s, though the subspecies is not a regular breeder in that country.
This bird is not shy, although its arboreal lifestyle and
cryptic
Cryptic may refer to:
In science:
* Cryptic species complex, a group of species that are very difficult to distinguish from one another
* Crypsis, the ability of animals to blend in to avoid observation
* Cryptic era, earliest period of the Earth
...
colours make it difficult to observe. It is constantly in motion. Like most "
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 ...
s", this 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 ...
is
insectivorous
A robber fly eating a hoverfly
An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects.
The first vertebrate insectivores were ...
. The nest is built on the ground.
A common species in most of its wide range, Hume's leaf-warbler is not considered
threatened
Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...
by the
IUCN
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 ...
.
It was recently split from the
yellow-browed warbler
The yellow-browed warbler (''Phylloscopus inornatus'') is a leaf warbler (family Phylloscopidae) which breeds in the east Palearctic. This warbler is strongly migratory and winters mainly in tropical South Asia and South-east Asia, but also in s ...
(''Phylloscopus inornatus''), based on differences in
morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
*Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
*Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...
,
bioacoustics, and molecular characters. The western Hume's leaf warbler's range overlaps with that of the yellow-browed warbler in the western
Sayan Mountains
The Sayan Mountains (russian: Саяны ''Sajany''; mn, Соёны нуруу, ''Soyonï nurû''; otk, 𐰚𐰇𐰏𐰢𐰤, Kögmen) are a mountain range in southern Siberia, Russia (Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tuva Republic ...
, but the species apparently do not
hybridize
Hybridization (or hybridisation) may refer to:
*Hybridization (biology), the process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid
*Orbital hybridization, in chemistry, the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals
*Nu ...
. The divergence between the two species has been tentatively estimated at 2.5
million years ago
The abbreviation Myr, "million years", is a unit of a quantity of (i.e. ) years, or 31.556926 teraseconds.
Usage
Myr (million years) is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used with Mya (million years ago). ...
(mya), and that between ''P. h. humei'' and ''P. h. mandelli'' at about 1 mya.
[Alström & Olsson (1988), Shirihai & Madge (1993), Ernst (1996), Irwin ''et al.'' (2001), Sangster ''et al.'' (2002)]
Footnotes
References
* Alström, Per (2006): Species concepts and their application: insights from the genera ''Seicercus'' and ''Phylloscopus''. ''Acta Zoologica Sinica'' 52(Supplement): 429–434
PDF fulltext* Alström, Per & Olsson, U. (1988): Taxonomy of Yellow-browed Warblers. ''
Brit. Birds'' 81: 656–657.
* Ernst, S. (1996): Zweiter Beitrag zur Vogelwelt des Östlichen Altai
Second contribution regarding the avifauna of the Sayan Mountains" ''Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum Berlin'' 72, ''Suppl. Ann. Ornithol.'' 20: 123–180
rticle in German
* Inskipp, Carol; Inskipp, Tim & Sherub (2000): The ornithological importance of Thrumshingla National Park, Bhutan. ''
Forktail'' 14: 147–162
PDF fulltext* Irwin, D.E.; Alström, Per; Olsson, U. & Benowitz-Fredericks, Z.M. (2001): Cryptic species in the genus ''Phylloscopus'' (Old World leaf warblers). ''
Ibis
The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...
'' 143(2): 233–247.
PDF fulltext* Price, Trevor & Jamdar, N. (1991): Breeding biology of the Yellow-browed leaf warbler ''Phylloscopus inornatus (humei)'' in Kashmir. ''Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society'' 88(1): 1–19.
* Sangster, George; Knox, Alan G.; Helbig, Andreas J. & Parkin, David T. (2002): Taxonomic recommendations for European birds. ''
Ibis
The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...
'' 144(1): 153–159.
(HTML abstract)
* Shirihai, H. & Madge, S. (1993): Identification of Hume's Yellow-browed Warbler. ''
Birding World'' 6: 439–443.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q608313
Hume's leaf warbler
Hume's leaf warbler or Hume's warbler (''Phylloscopus humei'') is a small leaf warbler which breeds in the mountains of inner Asia. This warbler is bird migration, migratory and winters mainly in India.
The English name and the specific ''humei' ...
Birds of Asia
Hume's leaf warbler
Hume's leaf warbler or Hume's warbler (''Phylloscopus humei'') is a small leaf warbler which breeds in the mountains of inner Asia. This warbler is bird migration, migratory and winters mainly in India.
The English name and the specific ''humei' ...