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Japanese Bush Warbler - BirdForum Opus

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Photo © by petitebouquet
Gifu pref Japan, 16 April 2007
Horornis diphone

Identification

15–18 cm (6-7 in)
This drab-coloured, secretive species is olive brown above and dusky grey-brown below with whitish belly. It has a pale supcercilium. Its blunt bill is bicolored with pale mandible. Eyes black. Legs dull pinkish. Tail is long with rounded tip. Sexes alike. Juvenile duller with greyer crown and nape.

Variations

Photo © by Francksan
A Juvenile, Hokkaido, Japan, 7 October 2007

The race H. d. cantans from the main Japanese Islands is characterized by a dull grayish wash with faint streaks across its breast.

Distribution

Japan. Introduced in the Hawaiian Islands, where its populations are rapidly growing in a variety of habitats.

Taxonomy

Formerly placed in genus Cettia.
Clements recognizes these subspecies:

  • H. d. riukiuensis on breeds on southern Sakhalin Island and the southernmost Kurils Islands; winters from central Honshu Island south through the Ryukyu Archipelago and to Taiwan
  • H. d. cantans on breeds main Japanese islands (Hokkaido south) and associated smaller islands south to the northern Ryukyu Islands (Tanegashima, Yakushima and Amami-Oshima) and northern Izu Islands (south to Aogashima), and in southern South Korea (including Jeju Island); northern populations migratory. Also the Hawaiian Islands (introduced)
  • H. d. restrictus formerly on Minami-daito-jima, where apparently now extirpated. Populations in the southern Ryukyu Islands (from Okinawa and Kumejima south to Ishigaki and Iriomote) possibly are restrictus, or may be a similar but undescribed population
  • H. d. diphone on Ogasawara (Bonin) and Iwo (Volcano) Islands

Former subspecies canturians and borealis have been split as Manchurian Bush-Warbler. Former subspecies viridis is considered a synonym of riukiuensis.

Habitat

Breeds in dwarf bamboo thickets, tall grassland with bushes in clearings, and dense undergrowth.

Behaviour

Prefers to stay deep in the shadow of foliage during the day where seldom seen but often heard.

Breeding

Polygynous. Nest is pot-shaped with a hole in the side. Clutch is 4-6 eggs. Young raised only by female.

Diet

Mostly insect larva, and spiders during summer but they also eat seeds during winter.

Movements

Partly migratory. Race sakhalinensis migrates south through Japanese islands.

Vocalisation

Calls: In winter makes a low chirping. Sings seasonally, usually with a distinctively long opening note at the beginning of each loud burst of notes. Gives a harsh "chet" sound while hiding.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
  3. Wikipedia contributors. (2019, January 14). Japanese bush warbler. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:22, February 6, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Japanese_bush_warbler&oldid=878379464
  4. Alström P, S Hohna, M Gelang, PGP Ericson & U. Olsson. (2011). Non-monophyly and intricate morphological evolution within the avian family Cettiidae revealed by multilocus analysis of a taxonomically densely sampled dataset BMC Evol. Biol. 11:352.
  5. Brazil, M. (2009). Birds of East Asia. Princeton Univ. Press.
  6. Clement, P. (2017). Japanese Bush-warbler (Horornis diphone). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/58736 on 25 June 2017).
  7. Dickinson, EC, ed. 2014. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 4th ed. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0956861122
  8. Kennerley, P.R. & Pearson, D. (2010) Reed and Bush Warblers. Christopher Helm, London.

Recommended Citation

External Links

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