Hume's Warbler Phylloscopus humei Scientific name definitions

10–11 cm; 5–8·8 g. A medium-sized, slim and active leaf-warbler with thin bill, prominent supercilium and wingbars. Nominate race has pale or dull buffish supercilium, long dark eyestripe; crown and upperparts mostly olive-green, tinged with grey on crown and mantle, crown also with broad and generally indistinct grey median stripe; tips of median and greater upperwing-coverts whitish-buff (two wingbars, that on medians frequently small or indistinct); flight-feathers dull brown with pale yellowish edges, whitish edges of tertials; whitish below, greyish on throat and breast; iris dark brown; bill mostly black, base of lower mandible sometimes with small area of pale or dull orange; legs dull brown or tinged orange. Differs from all other leaf-warblers with wingbars in small size, lack of yellow on rump and of white in tail, colour of wingbar on greater coverts, relatively narrow eyestripe, and all-dark bill; distinguished from similar P. inornatus mainly by duller, greyer general coloration, and less extensive pale colouring at base of lower mandible; from slightly larger P.trochiloides by less yellow supercilium, dark brown (not greenish) fringes of greater coverts, less extensive yellow on lower mandible, and from equally similar P. plumbeitarsus additionally by fact that bar on greater coverts is shorter (not reaching scapular edges). Sexes alike. Juvenile has upperparts browner, wingbars tinged buffish, supercilium and underparts usually dingy white, and flanks tinged buffish. Race mandellii has crown greyer and upperparts duller and browner than nominate, upper wingbar rarely distinct, edges of tertials and tips of flight-feathers greenish-grey, supercilium and underparts dull yellowish-white.

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Breeds in larch (Larix) and pine (Pinus) forests, also subalpine shrubs and rhododendron (Rhododendron) thickets, in Altai Mts to 2400 m; in N Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan in juniper (Juniperus) scrub, willows (Salix), barberry (Berberis) bushes and broadleaf woods between 2000 m and 3500 m, and at 3280–3980 m in Nepal. On passage and in winter at lower levels (below 2135 m) in riverine woods and forest, open dry deciduous forest, woodland, orchards, plantations, gardens and roadside verges.

Migratory. All populations move between SW and SE to spend winter months mainly in region from N Afghanistan E to N Vietnam. Gradual departure from breeding areas in late Jul and early Aug, passage through valleys in Sayan and Altai Mts and first migrants in NW Himalayas (Ladakh) by end of month; passage through S Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan from mid-Sept to late Oct, in NW China (in Tarim Basin, in W Xinjiang) from late Aug to early Nov; last birds in Sayan and Altai ranges end Aug/early Sept. Arrives N Afghanistan and Islamabad region of Pakistan in last ten days of Sept. Abundant on passage in Nepal (both seasons) and present in India from Oct to Apr. Small numbers may also winter in NE Afghanistan, SE Iran and E Arabia, where present to late Apr; scarce passage migrant and winter visitor United Arab Emirates Sept–Apr. Return N begins Mar, with conspicuous passage through NW India; passes through Kashmir and NE Afghanistan from mid-Apr to late May; first in S Kazakhstan in mid-Apr (exceptionally, late Feb), passage continuing throughout May; in Altai Mts in early May, at which time last individuals are passing through Islamabad; first arrivals in W Mongolia in early May, and most of N parts of breeding range occupied by second half May. Little information on passage of race mandellii; moves through SW China in Sept, returns in Apr. Vagrant (nominate race) in Europe W to Fennoscandia, Britain, France and, in S, Italy, Turkey, Israel and Iraq.

Food mostly insects, and their eggs and larvae; in particular, beetles (Coleoptera) the most important constituent of diet during autumn migration through Tien Shan; other insects taken are hymenopterans, including chalcid wasps (Chalcidae), sawflies (Symphyta) and ants (Formicidae), also moths (Lepidoptera), dragonflies (Odonata), flies (Diptera), bugs (Hemiptera), aphids (Aphidoidea), small cockroaches (Blattodea). Spiders (Araneae) and molluscs also eaten. Usually alone or in pairs, but in non-breeding season frequently in mixed-species flocks. Forages at all levels, and both inside canopy and outside it, taking insects mostly from foliage; frequently hovers to examine outermost foliage; also pursues insects in agile, dashing and twisting flight. May occasionally feed on the ground.

Call “tooee”, “tsui”, “chwee” or “weesoo”, drier than call of P. inornatus; also “chirp” like that of a sparrow (Passer), “scewp” or “tiss-yip” notes (latter calls given stridently and repeatedly by race mandellii), and short flat “seest” or “sweest”. Song, from late Apr to late Aug, of two types: one a lively repeated version of the “weesoo” call note; other a long drawn-out, descending and fading, wheezing “eeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzz”, often sustained for several seconds.

Late May to early Aug; one brood, in Tien Shan occasionally two. Monogamous; pair-bond known to last for 3 successive years in Tien Shan. Territorial. Pair formation takes place when female enters male’s song territory, both land on same branch and hop towards each other, with shivering wings half-spread and tail fanned (but may raise tail above level of back), male then pursues female in flight. Nest a ball of plant fibres, moss, grass and animal hair, placed on ground or bank among moss-covered roots or stones or concealed in grassy tussock, usually beneath bush, small tree or low-spreading rhododendron, sometimes in hollow in tree. Clutch 4–5 eggs, occasionally 6; incubation by female alone, period 11–14 days; nestlings fed and cared for by both parents, fledging period 11–15 days; young independent at 21 days. Nests parasitized by Lesser Cuckoo (Cuculus poliocephalus). Breeding success good; of 274 nests in Zailiyskiy Alatau (in Tien Shan) over 6-year period, c. 68% successful, 23% failed owing to predation.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Locally common and widespread in most of breeding range. Densities of up to 4 pairs/ha in N Pakistan, 65 birds/km² in open woods of Altai, and 20 nests in 1 ha in C Altai. Common to fairly common in much of non-breeding range; scarce to locally common in Myanmar, Thailand and N Indochina.