14/01/2019 Hume's Warbler at Newhaven, Sussex - a 'Lifer'

Monday 14/01/2019
Riverside Park, Newhaven, Sussex

Lucky me!  The Hume's Warbler hadn't moved on so I went down to Riverside Park just before lunch to twitch it. 

• The bird was calling and flying around continuously, making it very difficult to get a good view in the bins. 

There were about 10 other birders present so we were able to track the bird as it moved around.




courtesy of Matt Eade and Twitter

After about 45 minutes everyone got their reward when the bird showed well on the left hand side of a low bush just 20 metres or so away.

This was a 'lifer' for me - the first of many in 2019 hopefully!

 

 

Hume's Leaf Warbler - BirdGuides

• A southern montane counterpart of Yellow-browed Warbler, Hume's breeds in Central Asia and winters in the Indian subcontinent. Previously regarded as a subspecies of Yellow-browed, its distinct morphology and vocalisations are now better understood.
• This is by far the rarest of the regular tiny leaf warblers in Britain, with 139 records to the end of 2015, but as with the other species, there is an upward trend.
• This is a bird of late autumn, occurring in late October and November (at the same time as Pallas's Warbler). The east coast has amassed the lion's share of records. A few individuals have overwintered.
• In size and structure, this species is essentially identical to Yellow-browed Warbler. However, its plumage is duller, more grey-green and less bright above, and 'dirtier' or more 'sullied looking' below. Its face pattern is blander and may be suffused with buff, while its wing-bars and tertial edges are less boldly defined and contrasting. Its median covert wing-bar may be almost absent. The bill and legs are predominantly dark.
• It has two call types: a cheery, rising che-wee, slightly reminiscent of Greenish Warbler, and a down-slurred swee-oo with a harsh, almost House Sparrow-like, quality.