Ijima's Leaf Warbler
IJIMA'S LEAF WARBLER
Phylloscopus ijimae
Family Phylloscopidae
migrant, rare
L 115mm (4 1/2")
Bird #516 - October 2018
This bird has one record in the Kennedy guide from 1947. It is considered vulnerable with only a few thousand individuals left in the world. The name Iijima’s Leaf Warbler comes from Isao Iijima, who acted as the first chair of the Ornithological Society of Japan.
According to Rob Hutchinson "Ijima's Leaf Warbler breeds on just a few islands off southeast Japan. In the Philippines it's something of an enigma, known only from several trapped birds back in 1947, and yet this is quite likely where most of them spend the winter undetected."
This rare migrant was seen by Robert Hutchinson in John Hay on October 26. Naturally we promptly headed to Baguio the next day. This was only the second record in the Philippines so we were eager to be able to see it before it flew away to another location. There was also the issue of the coming super typhoon.
We met up with Rob at 6:00am on October 28 and spent the whole morning trying to track and photograph the bird. We spotted a bird early on and after a few hours we realized there were two. It took some time to get a clear photo because this bird liked the thicker foliage and moved around quickly. Tonji was the last to get some photos but eventually got a few. When we looked at the time it was already noon. We had fun tracking it all over the trail. All that looking around certainly helped our appetites and helped us sleep well at night.
Read MorePhylloscopus ijimae
Family Phylloscopidae
migrant, rare
L 115mm (4 1/2")
Bird #516 - October 2018
This bird has one record in the Kennedy guide from 1947. It is considered vulnerable with only a few thousand individuals left in the world. The name Iijima’s Leaf Warbler comes from Isao Iijima, who acted as the first chair of the Ornithological Society of Japan.
According to Rob Hutchinson "Ijima's Leaf Warbler breeds on just a few islands off southeast Japan. In the Philippines it's something of an enigma, known only from several trapped birds back in 1947, and yet this is quite likely where most of them spend the winter undetected."
This rare migrant was seen by Robert Hutchinson in John Hay on October 26. Naturally we promptly headed to Baguio the next day. This was only the second record in the Philippines so we were eager to be able to see it before it flew away to another location. There was also the issue of the coming super typhoon.
We met up with Rob at 6:00am on October 28 and spent the whole morning trying to track and photograph the bird. We spotted a bird early on and after a few hours we realized there were two. It took some time to get a clear photo because this bird liked the thicker foliage and moved around quickly. Tonji was the last to get some photos but eventually got a few. When we looked at the time it was already noon. We had fun tracking it all over the trail. All that looking around certainly helped our appetites and helped us sleep well at night.
