Sulphur-breasted Warbler Phylloscopus ricketti    photos Sid Francis

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A striking yellow plumage combined with the black and yellow crown and face pattern makes this one of the easier leaf warblers to identify. Also one of our lowest breeding warblers - our local birds start where suitable forest habitat occurs which in Sichuan is usually around the 700m mark and goes up to around 1,500m. It returns and breeds early, first birds arriving in late March, with singing birds being very noticeable in early April. After this early period of vocal activity it becomes much harder to find and sightings tail off in May and June, when other leaf warblers are very active and noticeable. This is one of the reasons most late spring/early summer Sichuan birding trips get relatively few sightings compared with species like Claudia's and Sichuan - the focus on higher altitude sites could be another one.

Similar species - with that yellow plumage its only the old seicurcus group of warblers that theoretically pose an identification problem. But lack of eye-ring and the typical grey, black and yellow face pattern of the makes field identification easy. However, song can be confused with kloss's, but being able to see the singing bird, kloss's having a far more sombre plumage, precludes any misidentifications.

Vocalizations - the distinctive plumage of this bird makes the song most valuable for finding it, rather than identifying it. It's very similar to kloss's, a bird that can be found in the same habitat,, repeated phrases several notes long. However, the end notes fall in pitch, rather than slightly rising as in the Kloss's song.

Habitat - a variety of lower woodland types. Often mixed woodland close to agriculture, where a variety of cultivated and native tree species are typical. Also found in plantation dominated woodland. 

Song here     Sid Francis iNaturalist