Grey-cheeked Warbler

The grey-cheeked warbler is a small Asian leaf warbler with olive upperparts, a patterned crown and face, and characteristically grey-toned cheeks. Like other members of the former golden-spectacled warbler group, it shows a pale eye-ring and contrasting facial marks; close species can be difficult to separate safely without hearing their calls. It moves rapidly through foliage, picking small invertebrates from leaves and fine branches (general Phylloscopus ecology; Wikipedia species account).

Its distribution extends from the eastern Himalayas through southern China into mainland Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. Natural habitats include subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and moist montane forest, where birds generally remain in shaded understorey and middle-level vegetation. The species was formerly assigned to Seicercus, but molecular work showed that Seicercus and Phylloscopus were intermingled, leading taxonomists to combine them under the older genus Phylloscopus (Wikipedia, general species account).