Davison's Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus intensior Scientific name definitions

10–11 cm; 5·7–8·1 g. Medium-sized and well-marked leaf-warbler. Nominate race has long bright yellow super­cilium, dark olive lores and eyestripe, well-defined broad yellow central crownstripe, dark olive crown-sides; upperparts bright olive-green, brighter on upperwing-coverts, with tips of median and greater coverts yellow (two broad wing­bars), bend of wing yellow; flight-feathers and tail feathers dark brown, inner webs of outer two rectrices with narrow white edges; throat pale yellowish, underparts yellowish; axillar­ies bright yellow; iris dark brown; bill dark brown, most of mandible orange or flesh-pink; legs brownish pink. Distinguished from very similar P. reguloides mainly by brighter yellow supercilium, better-defined central crownstripe, more white in tail, yellower underparts, slightly smaller size; from P. emeiensis by well-defined crown pattern, greener upperparts, and yellower wingbars, head markings and underside. Sexes alike. Juvenile is as adult, but has upperparts browner, and less yellow on supercilium, cheek and underparts. Race muleyitensis is very like nominate but somewhat less bright, with more white in tail.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Until recently considered conspecific with P. ogilviegranti, and together this complex was treated as “P. davisoni”; with merging of Phylloscopus and Seicercus, however, name davisoni became preoccupied and was replaced by new name muleyitensis (1 Dickinson, E. C., and L. Christidis, Editors (2014). The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Fourth Edition. Volume 2. Aves Press, Eastbourne, UK. Close ). On basis of molecular work (2 Olsson, U., Alström, P., Ericson, P.G.P. and Sundberg, P. (2005). Non-monophyletic taxa and cryptic species: evidence from a molecular phylogeny of leaf-warblers (Phylloscopus, Aves). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 36(2): 261–276. Close , 3 Päckert, M., Blume, C., Sun, Y.-H., Wei, L. and Martens, J. (2009). Acoustic differentiation reflects mitochondrial lineages in Blyth’s Leaf Warbler and White-tailed Leaf Warbler complexes (Aves: Phylloscopus reguloides, Phylloscopus davisoni). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 96(3): 584–600. Close ), race muleyitensis [= davisoni] was split off from all other members of this complex (4 Dickinson, E.C. and Christidis, L. (2015). List of Errata for Vol. 2 plus Corrigenda in respect of range statements and additional Errata from Vol. 1 (2013) Jan 2015. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 4th editon. Vol 2. Aves Press, Eastbourne, UK. URL: http://www.avespress.com/download-pdf.php?pdf_id=17 (download Jul 2016). Close ); but vocal analysis now groups intensior not with ogilviegranti but with muleyitensis, name intensior having priority for present species. Song is typically a rising or falling phrase repeated 2–3 times vs a warbled phrase 1.5 s long lacking a repetitive pattern in all races of P. ogilviegranti; repeated phrases and shortest length of repeated phrase yield scores of 2+3 (5) (5 Boesman, P. (2016). Notes on the vocalizations of White-tailed Leaf-warbler (Phylloscopus davisoni). HBW Alive Ornithological Note 425. In: Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ); present species differs further from P. o. klossi in its reduced yellow below (1) and more white in tail (1); and from P. o. ogilviegranti and P. o. disturbans in having considerably more white in tail (2). Two subspecies recognized.

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Song is typically a subphrase repeated 2–3 times, sometimes preceded by an introductory note; the repeated subphrase is typically either rising or falling in pitch (5 Boesman, P. (2016). Notes on the vocalizations of White-tailed Leaf-warbler (Phylloscopus davisoni). HBW Alive Ornithological Note 425. In: Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ). Call a single “pitsiu”, “wit-chee” or “pitsitsui”, very similar to that of P. reguloides.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Common in most of range; rather uncommon in S China. Very common in Thailand; locally common in N Laos. Within its fairly large range this species’ population seems to be reasonably stable, and no significant threats to its survival have been identified.