Asian Desert Warbler

The Asian desert warbler is a small bird, the second-smallest in its genus after the African desert warbler, 11.5–12.5 cm long. The sexes are almost identical, pale grey-brown above with browner wings and tail and whitish below, with a yellowish bill and legs and a yellow iris; female whitethroats can look much like a richly coloured Asian desert warbler. Until recently it was considered conspecific with the African desert warbler and has occurred as a rare vagrant as far west as Great Britain (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in the deserts of central and western Asia and migrates to similar habitats in south-western Asia, from Arabia to north-western India, and the far north-east of Africa. It is insectivorous but also takes small berries and, unlike most warblers, commonly feeds on the ground. The song is a distinctive jingle often given in an advertisement flight, and the nest is built in a low shrub with four to six eggs. SoIB 2023 lists it as a winter migrant of grassland that eats invertebrates, without a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).