Pale-legged Leaf Warbler

Phylloscopus tenellipes Swinhoe, 1860 (0, 2)

Photo © Steve Williams - Bempton, Yorkshire, October 2024

STATUS

Eastern Russia to north-east China and North Korea. Monotypic.

OVERVIEW

The first was confirmed by DNA analysis whereas a previous sight record in Dorset in October 2012 was either this species or Sakhalin Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus borealoides.

Pale pinkish legs and claws, grey mottled cheeks, throat and upper breast are a start to identification of this leaf warbler.

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BBRC RECORD

1). 2016 Isles of Scilly Lighthouse, St Agnes, 1CY+ male, found dead, 21st October, photo, DNA analysis.

(C. Holt and the Rarities Committee, British Birds 110: 597; BOURC (2018), Ibis 160: 242).

2). 2024 Yorkshire Bempton Cliffs RSPB, 1CY+, 25th September to 2nd October, photo, sound recording.

(P. R. French, A. Holden and the Rarities Committee, British Birds 118: 535, plate 321).