Record autumn for Yellow-browed Warblers

10 Nov 2016 Yellow-browed Warbler by Damian Money

Bird migration is a captivating subject and it is always amazing to consider the distances birds travel. The diminutive Yellow-browed Warbler, for example, breeds in Siberia and winters mainly in southeast Asia, yet it has become an established autumn visitor to western Europe in recent years.

The first Yellow-browed Warbler of this autumn was reported on 13 September and the reporting rate reached just under 8% of complete lists in mid October. This is almost double that of the same period in 2015. Just under 5,000 observations of Yellow-browed Warbler were logged in BirdTrack up to the end of October, another record breaking total. The reason for the increase is still unknown, with reverse migration and range expansion among the potential factors. Your BirdTrack submissions will help us to document and ultimately, better understand this phenomenon.

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