Sykes's Warbler Iduna rama Scientific name definitions

11·5–13 cm; 7–11 g. Small Hippolais with fairly long, thin, pointed bill, flat forehead and crown, and rather long tail enhanced by short primary projection; often resembles an Acrocephalus warbler. Has short whitish supercilium generally ending at rear end of eye; whitish eyering, rather pale lores; pale greyish-brown above , in certain lights appearing to have faint olive tinge on head and mantle ; tertials and greater upperwing-coverts rather uniformly brownish, lacking strong contrasts between dark centres and pale edges; primaries rather uniformly brown, and secondary fringes only marginally paler (no obvious pale secondary panel); tail with diffusely paler edges and tips of outer feathers; mainly off-white below , very faint buff hue on breast side and flanks; iris dark brown; upper mandible greyish, lower mandible pinkish yellow and usually with faint dark “smudge” near tip; legs pale greyish pink, toes often slightly darker and greyer. Sexes alike. Immature resembles adult.

From lower R Volga E to E Kazakhstan (L Balkhash) and extreme W China (W & C Xinjiang), S to S Iran, Afghanistan and W Pakistan, locally in NW India; non-breeding Indian Subcontinent. Small resident population in NE UAE (Khor Kalba) and NW Oman (mangroves of Batinah coast) (1 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission & Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Close ).

Migratory; spends non-breeding season in India and Pakistan, to lesser extent also in S Iran and locally in S Arabia, with single recent (Mar 2011) record from NE Bangladesh (2 Round, P.D., Ul Haque, E., Dymond, N., Pierce, A.J. and Thompson, P.M. (2014). Ringing and ornithological exploration in north-east Bangladesh wetlands. Forktail. 30: 109–121. Close ). Autumn departure in Aug–Sept; returns to breeding ranges from late Feb, majority arriving in Mar–May.

Mainly insects and spiders (Araneae); caterpillars taken in summer. No detailed dietary study pertaining specifically to present species is known; diet probably similar to that of closely related I. caligata. Takes food items from leaves and twigs while energetically searching the canopy; will visit ground to seek prey, but usually only briefly each time. Twitches tail upwards or to side, rarely downwards, when feeding and moving about.

Song a fast mixture of scratchy and clearer notes  , some repeated in twos or threes, phrases vary between c. 10 seconds and 25 seconds, at times longer, each phrase commonly opens at full strength; similar to song of I. caligata but louder, with each phrase uniform in strength, in places vaguely resembles song of Acrocephalus schoenobaenus. Also has alternative “early-dawn song”, chirping or squeezed notes delivered at slow, staccato-like pace. Calls  both a dry, tongue-clicking “chek”, similar to that of I. caligata, and a more characteristic, fuller “tslek”, which can recall anxiety call of Bluethroat (Cyanecula svecica); rarely, brief short trills also heard.

Apr–Jun/Jul; normally single-brooded. At least in some areas semi-colonial, nests at times only 5 m apart. Nest a well-built cup of plant stems, roots and soft twigs, lined with plant down and fur, placed in fork of branch or dense undergrowth, often at 0·3–2 m. Clutch usually consists of 4–6 eggs , replacement laid if clutch lost; incubation by female, sometimes relieved by male, period 12–14 days; nestlings fed by both parents, fledged after 12–14 days.