The Upcher's Warbler, is an Old World warbler

Old World warbler

The "Old World Warblers" is the name used to describe a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the cisticolas into...

 in the tree warbler

Tree warbler

Tree warblers are medium-sized warblers belonging to the genus Hippolais, formerly placed in the "Old World warbler" family Sylviidae but now separated in the marsh- and tree-warbler family Acrocephalidae. They are found in Europe, Africa and western Asia....

 genus Hippolais. It breeds in an area from Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 south and east to Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. It is migratory

Bird migration

Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...

, wintering in eastern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, from Eritrea

Eritrea

Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...

 and Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

 south to Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

.

This small passerine

Passerine

A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...

 bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 is a species found in semi-desert habitats, frequenting bushy scrub and thickets of tamarisk. 4-5 eggs are laid in a nest in bushes and low trees.

This is a medium-sized warbler, similar in size to the Icterine Warbler

Icterine Warbler

The Icterine Warbler is an Old World warbler in the tree warbler genus Hippolais . It breeds in mainland Europe except the southwest, where it is replaced by its western counterpart, Melodious Warbler. It is migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa...

, with a slightly longer bill and shorter wings and a longer tail. Its frequent tail movement is reminiscent of a Sylvia

Typical warbler

The typical warblers are small birds belonging to the genus Sylvia in the "Old World warbler" family Sylviidae. There are 28 species currently included in the genus, including five species formerly treated in the genus Parisoma, a treatment which left Sylvia paraphyletic...

warbler or a Chat

Chat (bird)

Chats are a group of small Old World insectivorous birds formerly classed as members of the thrush family Turdidae, but now considered Old World flycatchers....

. Its rather grey plumage is similar to the Olivaceous Warbler

Olivaceous Warbler

Olivaceous Warbler can refer to one of two bird species, formerly regarded as conspecific:* Western Olivaceous Warbler Hippolais opaca* Eastern Olivaceous Warbler Hippolais pallida...

, but tail movements are diagnostic.

It feeds on invertebrates. Its song is similar to that of other Hippolais warblers, but distinctive and unmistakable, and entirely different from that of the Olivaceous Warbler.

Ehrenberg

Ehrenberg

Ehrenberg may refer to:Germany* Ehrenberg, Hesse, a town in the Fulda district** Ehrenberg in the northwest of Ehrenberg, Hesse* Ehrenberg, Thuringia, a town in the Hildburghausen district...

's original description of this bird was 'rather vague' and it was redescribed by Henry Baker Tristram

Henry Baker Tristram

The Reverend Henry Baker Tristram FRS was an English clergyman, Biblical scholar, traveller and ornithologist.Tristram was born at Eglingham vicarage, near Alnwick, Northumberland, and studied at Durham School and Lincoln College, Oxford. In 1846 he was ordained a priest, but he suffered from...

 in 1864, naming it Hippolais upcheri after his friend Henry Morris Upcher. This is the origin of the bird's common name.