Icterine warbler

Description:

This is another Palearctic warbler wintering in Southern Africa; small, sparrow sized olive-green (above) and yellowish (below) bird; not particularly shy, but very fast moving.

Habitat:

I observed this one for few hours that afternoon; in a guesthouse in Opuwo, small town in the central part of Kunene region. The guesthouse had a small and very green garden with few trees; and a couple of these warblers were busy hunting all time. Garden itself is the continuation of a habitat around it, a mixed savannah-woodland; mopane, acacia and some other broad-leaved trees, with taller grasses in between. This part of the region has recently received some rains, and grasses seem to be recovering, while the southern parts of the region are still very dry.

Notes:

I always mix the Hippolais warblers with Phylloscopus ones, so all green-and-yellow small and lively warbler-like birds end lumped in the same folder after my travels; the folder is named "small and lively green-and-yellow jobs". And then I spend time going through them (and usually end up looking for help from more experienced birders - and I thank them for their regular help - in particular thanks to my friend Srdjan Cuturilov) afterwards... Here, after my trip to Namibia, I ended with four separate spottings of these, or four distinct spottings that produced good photos. One of them is Icterine warbler (this one) and three of Willow warblers - one of them is reported here : https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/16...