Friday 12 December 2014

Japanese Bush Warbler (Horornis diphone)

OTHER NAMES: Singing Bush Warbler
Latin Etymology: Horornis ("mountain bird") diphone ("many tonged")
Three partial views of a Japanese Bush Warbler (subspecies H. d. cantansat Kamakura, Japan - November 2014

Featured Subspecies: Horornis diphone cantans
Weight: 15-22g  /  Length: 15.5cm  /  Wingspan: 20-22cm
ABSENT FROM UK / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The Japanese Bush Warbler is definitely a skulker, a fact clearly represented by the quality of the above photos.  I suspect this is also a contributing factor to why it is also known as the Japanese Nightingale, a fact also backed up by its drab appearance and melodious song in the Spring.  My sighting of this species was not my most riveting sighting- some brief glimpses of a small, brown bird I'd been alerted to the presence of by its alarm call.  I never got a clear view of it as it flitted around through the bushes low to the ground.

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cettiidae
Genus: Horornis
Subspecies: H. d. canturians, H. d. viridis, H. d. cantans, H. d. riukiuensis, H. d. restrictus, H. d. diphone

 - Sighting Locations -
JAPAN - Japanese: ウグイス  /  Uguisu ("Warbler")*
Widespread Resident
 - TOKYO/HOKKAIDO 2014 TRIP: Single bird seen poorly in the bushes at Kamakura

Further Notes: BirdForum OpusIUCN Red ListRSPBWikipedia, Xeno-canto

*The Japanese Bush Warbler has a lot of names in Japanese, these include Haru-dori (ハルドリ, Haru-tsuge-dori (ハルツゲドリ), Hana-mi-dori (ハナミドリ) , kyō-yomi-dori (キョウヨミドリ)nioi-dori (ニオイドリ)hitoku-dori (ヒトクドリ)momochi-dori (モモチドリ) and atago-dori (アタゴドリ)

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