Mountain Chiffchaff Phylloscopus sindianus breeds Caucasus Mountains to China, with sindianus (“Sind Mountain Chiffchaff”) in Kunlun Mountains and Tianshan in Xinjiang. HABITAT Forests and alpine scrub to 4400 m (14,440 ft.); usually at higher elevations than Common Chiffchaff P. collybita. ID & COMPARISON Lacks green in upperparts and yellow in underparts. Pale brown from crown to rump; darker brown on tail and wings. Has white supercilium and dark-brown eye-stripe. Throat white, sometimes contrasting with otherwise pinkish-brown underparts, but underparts may also be more uniform buffish-white. Best features against Common Chiffchaff are browner upperparts (especially crown), lack of green edges to wings and tail, and whiter supercilium and throat. Dusky Warbler P. fuscatus is slightly larger and slimmer and has more distinct supercilium and eye-stripe, paler legs, and a different call. BARE PARTS Bill black with yellowish-brown basal half to lower mandible; feet black. Plaintive huit call higher-pitched than Common Chiffchaff. — Craig Brelsford
THE LEAF WARBLERS OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com has research on most members of Phylloscopus in China. Click any link below:
Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix
Buff-barred Warbler P. pulcher
Ashy-throated Warbler P. maculipennis
Hume’s Leaf Warbler P. humei
Yellow-browed Warbler P. inornatus
Chinese Leaf Warbler P. yunnanensis
Lemon-rumped Warbler P. chloronotus
Sichuan Leaf Warbler P. forresti
Gansu Leaf Warbler P. kansuensis
Pallas’s Leaf Warbler P. proregulus
Yellow-streaked Warbler P. armandii
Radde’s Warbler P. schwarzi
Sulphur-bellied Warbler P. griseolus
Tickell’s Leaf Warbler P. affinis
Smoky Warbler P. fuligiventer
Dusky Warbler P. fuscatus
Buff-throated Warbler P. subaffinis
Willow Warbler P. trochilus
Mountain Chiffchaff P. sindianus
Common Chiffchaff P. collybita
Eastern Crowned Warbler P. coronatus
Ijima’s Leaf Warbler P. ijimae
White-spectacled Warbler P. intermedius
Grey-cheeked Warbler P. poliogenys
Green-crowned Warbler P. burkii
Grey-crowned Warbler P. tephrocephalus
Whistler’s Warbler P. whistleri
Bianchi’s Warbler P. valentini
Alström’s Warbler P. soror
Martens’s Warbler P. omeiensis
Two-barred Warbler P. plumbeitarsus
Greenish Warbler P. trochiloides
Emei Leaf Warbler P. emeiensis
Large-billed Leaf Warbler P. magnirostris
Sakhalin Leaf Warbler P. borealoides
Pale-legged Leaf Warbler P. tenellipes
Japanese Leaf Warbler P. xanthodryas
Kamchatka Leaf Warbler P. examinandus
Arctic Warbler P. borealis
Chestnut-crowned Warbler P. castaniceps
Limestone Leaf Warbler P. calciatilis
Sulphur-breasted Warbler P. ricketti
Yellow-vented Warbler P. cantator
Blyth’s Leaf Warbler P. reguloides
Claudia’s Leaf Warbler P. claudiae
Hartert’s Leaf Warbler P. goodsoni
Kloss’s Leaf Warbler P. ogilviegranti
Hainan Leaf Warbler P. hainanus
Davison’s Leaf Warbler P. davisoni
Grey-hooded Warbler P. xanthoschistos
RESOURCES ON LEAF WARBLERS
Use Per Alström’s 40-page presentation on the leaf warblers of China. The document is available in PDF and jpeg:
Presentation on the Identification of Leaf Warblers in China, by Per Alström (PDF version)
Presentation on the Identification of Leaf Warblers in China, by Per Alström (zip folder containing jpegs that can be synced like photos to one’s smartphone)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daniel Bengtsson served as chief ornithological consultant for Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, from which this species description is drawn.
