Family Bush-warblers (Scotocercidae)
Least Concern
Aberrant Bush-warbler (Horornis flavolivaceus)
Taxonomy
French: Bouscarle jaune et vert German: Olivseidensänger Spanish: Cetia verdiamarilla
Taxonomy:
N[eornis]. flavolivacea
Blyth
, 1845,Nepal
.
Subspecies and Distribution
H. f. flavolivaceus
(Blyth, 1845) – Aberrant Bush-warbler – Himalayas from NC India (E Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) E to S China (SE Xizang).
H. f. stresemanni
(Koelz, 1954) – Garo and Khasi Hills, in NE India (Meghalaya).
H. f. alexanderi
(Ripley, 1951) – hills of extreme NE India (E Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram).
H. f. weberi
(Mayr, 1941) – Chin Hills, in W Myanmar.
H. f. intricatus
(E. J. O. Hartert, 1909) – Perplexing Bush-warbler – N & E Myanmar, S China (Sichuan E to SW Shanxi and S Shaanxi, S to W & N Yunnan); some birds winter S to NW Thailand.
H. f. oblitus
(Mayr, 1941) – N Laos and NW Vietnam.
H. f. sepiarius
(Kloss, 1931) – N Sumatra.
H. f. flaviventris
(Salvadori, 1879) – C & S Sumatra.
H. f. vulcanius
(Blyth, 1870) – Sunda Bush-warbler – Java, Bali and Lombok. Probably this race on Sumbawa (Gunung Tambora#R).
H. f. kolichisi
(Johnstone & Darnell, 1997) – Alor.
H. f. everetti
(E. J. O. Hartert, 1898) – Timor. Probably this race on Wetar#R#R.
H. f. banksi
(Chasen, 1935) – NW Borneo.
H. f. oreophilus
(Sharpe, 1888) – Mt Kinabalu, in N Borneo.
H. f. palawanus
(Ripley & Rabor, 1962) – S Palawan (Mt Mantalingajan), in SW Philippines.
Descriptive notes
12–13·5 cm; 6–10 g. A medium-sized bush-warbler with short, rounded wings. Nominate race is yellowish olive-green above, with pale yellowish supercilium,... read more
Voice
Song of Aberrant Bush-warbler group a short series of thin rising notes followed by longer whistle... read more
Habitat
Bushes, tall grass clumps, dense bamboo thickets, ferns and scrub (including Lantana scrub... read more
Food and feeding
Food items not well known, presumably invertebrates and larvae; Sunda Bush-warbler group recorded taking small invertebrates and larvae;... read more
Breeding
Poorly known. Season May–Aug (Aberrant Bush-warbler group) or Feb, Apr, May, Jul, Aug, Oct and Dec (Sunda Bush-warbler group). Nest a... read more
Movements
Altitudinal migrant; post-breeding descent to lower elevations; resident in Indonesia and Sundaland... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Common to fairly common in Himalayas; common in NE Indian hills. Uncommon in China; fairly common in Myanmar and N Indochina;... read more
Hitherto treated as two species, with races stresemanni, alexanderi, weberi, intricatus and oblitus under a narrower H. flavolivaceus and the remaining races grouping under “Sunda Bush-warbler” H. vulcanius. Molecular evidence, however, places races intricatus and oblitus as closer to latter grouping#R, but morphologically they remain near-indistinguishable from other taxa in former grouping#R; lumping the two species thus seems appropriate and is consistent with the monophyly detected in these taxa#R. Birds from S China (Sichuan, W Yunnan) described as race dulcivox (which has been treated as synonym also of H. fortipes davidianus), but type specimen lost; probably inseparable from intricatus. Form described as “Phylloscopus subaffinis arcanus”, based on three specimens from W Nepal (in Jan and Apr), now considered synonymous with nominate race of present species. Fourteen subspecies recognized.