Sykes’s Warbler Iduna rama 賽氏篱鶯
Category I. Accidental.
IDENTIFICATION
11.5-13 cm. Very similar to Booted Warbler but differs in not flicking wings and tail downward simultaneously (Shirihai and Svensson 2018), shorter primary projection, longer bill and tail, and paler legs. Sykes’s Warbler is also paler above and whiter below, has little contrast in the tertials, a very restricted dark mark on lower mandible and a less obvious supercilium that rarely extends obviously behind the eye.
VOCALISATIONS
Two calls can typically be given. The first is similar to Lesser Whitethroat, a dry ‘tek’.
The second is lower in pitch.
DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE
The sole record occurred in roadside shrub and grass.
OCCURRENCE
One was along the boundary fence road between Mai Po and Lok Ma Chau on 30 September and 1 October 1994 (Leader 1995).
In addition, an Iduna warbler at Long Valley during 14-15 September 1998 was either Booted or Sykes’s Warbler I. rama.
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
No information.
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
Monotypic. Breeds south Kazakhstan into north Xinjiang and south through Central Asia to Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan; winters largely in India (Svensson and Kirwan 2020, Liu and Chen 2020).
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend stable.
Leader, P. J. (1995). Booted Warbler: the first record for Hong Kong. Hong Kong Bird Report 1994: 118-122.
Liu, Y. and Y. H. Chen (eds) (2020). The CNG Field Guide to the Birds of China (in Chinese). Hunan Science and Technology Publication House, Changsha.
Shirihai, H. and L. Svensson (2018). Handbook of Western Palearctic Birds Vol. 1. Passerines: Larks to Warblers. Helm, London.
Svensson, L. and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Sykes's Warbler (Iduna rama), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.sykwar2.01
