I had never expected to have a Large-billed Leaf Warbler around my home garden. But that is precisely what happened!

Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we had been instructed to work from home by my company. And that is precisely what I was doing. It was a regular work day of the week. I was busy working away on my laptop in a room at home when I heard a sharp call. When one is a birder, and that too one who is very interesting in bird calls, one becomes accustomed to unconsciously processing calls/sounds happening around. I immediately knew that this call was out of the ordinary, atleast for the calls that I am used to hearing regularly around my house. This definitely had to be investigated. I ran out with my mobile phone in hand to record the call.

What I heard outside in my garden had me almost perplexed. It sounded almost like a Large-billed Leaf Warbler. But with a slight difference in what I had heard earlier whenever I had sighted it elsewhere. Could it be this bird, I wondered. Yes, it is an usual passage migrant for Bangalore and it was the period where it should be passing through. But what were the chances of having it come around my house when, in the past, I have made a few trips just to see this bird 😀 ! I could not see the bird as it was calling somewhere in the tree cover behind my house, but very close by. I recorded the call and send it to my friend to help reconfirm the ID. It was came back with a confirmation that was indeed the call (actually a sub-song) of a Large-billed Leaf Warbler!

You click on the below link to access the call that I have uploaded in a popular bird call database, in case you would like to hear it:

https://www.xeno-canto.org/608141/embed?simple=1

Here is a picture of a Large-billed Leaf Warbler that I had sighted in a visit to the Nilgiris. You can read about that trip here. It had been a fantastic one.

I heard the bird for reasonably long periods the next two days as well. And then it stopped. I guessed that it had been waiting for favourable weather and getting it, had moved on to its final destination in its winter migration. Thank you for visiting me and have a safe journey!

You can read my post on the numerous other birds found around my home.