wing 11/01/2015 23:16
Is it a Japanese or Manchurian Bush Warbler?
9 Jan 2015
Shek Kong
The followings are 2 photos of the same bird. No colour adjustment was made. The different colour tone was due to different lighting conditions.
Is it a Japanese Bush Warbler or a Manchurian Bush Warbler? Thanks in advance.
[img]http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag416/hkmjkinghk/JBW1_zps4a227f5c.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag416/hkmjkinghk/JBW2_zps62f93844.jpg[/img]
HFCheung 11/01/2015 23:56
The HK list includes both these two species, but no subspecies information.
Japanese Bush Warbler 日本樹鶯 [i]Horornis diphone[/i]
Manchurian Bush Warbler 遠東樹鶯 [i]Horornis borealis[/i]
IOC has ssp [i]canturians[/i] included in Japanese Bush Warbler 日本樹鶯 [i]Horornis diphone[/i], and I beleive this is the subspecies in the photos.
Very little id information is available to the birdwatching community. I hope the HKBWS record committee can help on the id of the various species and subspecies in HK.
HF Cheung
wgeoff 12/01/2015 06:52
See 2012 HK Bird Report page 143, comment on Plate 34 which goes as follows
"Plate 34 Japanese Bush Warbler [i]Horornis diphone canturians[/i] 日本樹鶯
Mai Po NR, 9th April 2012 米埔 2012年4月9日
Jacky Chan 陳家華
Although field separation criteria between Japanese Bush Warbler, [i]H. diphone (ssp. canturians)[/i] and Manchurian Bush Warbler [i]H. borealis[/i] have yet to be fully resolved, this (i.e.the photo in the 2012 HKBR) is considered to be a Japanese Bush Warbler due to the rather uniform upperparts, extensively rich crown and lack of grey on the nape (PJ Leader in litt.).
因其較平均的上半部、深色的頭頂及缺乏灰色的頸部,所以辨認為遠東樹鶯 H. borealis 而非日本樹鶯"
Although I am not an expert, that would indicate the bird in this photo is a Manchurian Bush Warbler [i]Horornis borealis[/i] since the crown is not richly coloured and there appears to be some grey around the nape in the second photo.
I can't reproduce Plate 34 here as we do not have the photographer's permission outside of the HKBR, but it does appear a more colourful bird than this one.
[[i] Last edited by wgeoff at 12/01/2015 07:01 [/i]]
handrew 12/01/2015 10:21
This is one that I photographed recently in my garden and it was determined (with appropriate caveats already cited above) that this was a Manchurian.