The number of Kamchatka Leaf Warblers in Kanazawa at the weekend was amazing. It's probably not a stretch to say there were hundreds of birds in the park I was surrounded by singing and calling birds everywhere I went. There was no tail-off in vocalisation throughout the morning because activity would be renewed after intermittent heavy showers.
It's interesting that it's Kamchatka Leaf rather than Japanese Leaf which I always see in big numbers. Japanese Leaf breeds in such low numbers locally that I really have no idea about arrival and departure dates however I'd guess they will be similar to Eastern Crowned which is the common
phyllosc in this area. Eastern Crowned are holding territory by mid-April and are effectly gone before October, in fact I find very few by mid-September. Kamchatka on the other hand is much later in both spring and autumn with big numbers now, late May, and again from late September throughout October. They are frequently encountered not just at migration hot-spots but on a broad front throughout the country and are common in and around Kyoto city.
I hoped to get some good images of the birds but in the end I was only able to get good shots of one singing bird that stayed put close enough to allow me to get the following images. It's interesting to see how the different light affects the overall appearance.
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| Song of Kamchatka Leaf with both double and single call notes between the two bursts of song. |
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| Double and single 'dzit' calls were given by all birds. |
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