Whistler's Warbler Discovery at Kanha

Whistler's Warbler (Phylloscopus whistleri)  First Record at Kanha

Typically a migrant bird found in North India Whistler's Warbler was sighted at Courtyard House in Kanha National Park in Central India. Notified of an unidentified bird by a junior birder, I  began my search as soon as I landed at Courtyard House where I freelance as a Naturalist.  

In my previous birding trips I had seen this avian a number of times at Sat Tal heaven for birds in the State of Uttrakhand.  I could thus well recognize the species bathed in yellow with large eyes and two grey marks on the head a description forwarded to me. I could hear the call of this leaf warbler clearly a number of times but it kept to the foliage whenever I tried to click an image.   

Northern Bird at Kanha

This is the first record of the Northern Taxa in Central India at Kanha National Park. Many winter visitors like Osprey, Pallas Eagle, grey bush chat, Siberian Rubythroat, verditor flycatcher, Hume's Warbler, Sulphur Bellied Warbler, Tickell's Warbler and bar winged flycatcher shrike, gadwall, Northern Pintail, common teal, bar-headed geese, greylag geese are often seen here. 

I had never come across Whistler's Warbler in my tours at Kanha beginning perhaps in the last fifteen years. This was a big surprise but try hard as I could I was not able to photograph the species as it was quick enough to move from the focus of my amateur camera.