Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) was seen foraging with other Phylloscopus warblers at the Botanical Garden in Rabat on 15th October 2015 by Pedro Fernandes. This is the 13th record of this Siberian species for Morocco.
Pedro detailed the observation in his eBird checklist as follows:
Detected by ear and later spotted with binoculars; seen at close range (c. 5m) as it foraged on the canopy of trees; small Phylloscopus warbler, smaller than Phylloscopus collybita and trochilus, with white underparts and greenish upperparts; obvious yellow supercillium and wing stripe on the greater coverts; faint paler middle of crown, bill bicoloured, from orangish on the base to dark on the tip; legs seemed dark or orangish-dark but were hard to see as the bird was very active; call a fast >FiuÍ!< (recorded) heard around four times during fifteen minutes or so, most of the time the bird was silent.
It should be noted that this autumn there was a large influx of the Yellow-browed Warbler in Western Europe. For example, the BTO wrote in there website: “This autumn already promises to be one of the best ever for the species in Britain and Ireland”.
Update:
Pedro Fernandes went back to the gardens and here is his comment:
On 3rd November, there was a Yellow-browed Warbler at the Botanical Gardens – possibly the same bird as last time. It was c. 20 m away from where I saw a bird on the 15th of October.
See the call recording of the bird and the full list of the observed birds in eBird. One of these birds is a European Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca), which could be late migrant or even a wintering bird.
We don’t know where these Yellow-browed Warblers overwinter, could some of them overwinter in Morocco?
Thanks Pedro!
