Yellow-bellied Prinia

The yellow-bellied prinia is a very small warbler, about 12–14.5 centimetres long, with a long, graduated, loose-looking tail. Breeding adults show a grey head, narrow whitish eyebrow, olive-brown upperparts, white throat, buff chest and yellow belly, flanks and undertail. Non-breeding and young birds are duller. It is typically skulking, but a singing bird may climb an exposed reed or grass stem (Hong Kong Bird Watching Society; Birds of Singapore).

Its broad range runs from Pakistan and the Indian subcontinent through southern China and Southeast Asia. The species favours tall grass, reeds, damp scrub and other dense low vegetation, frequently beside marshes, ponds or streams. It works methodically through stems and leaves for small invertebrates, usually alone or in pairs. Nesting is tied to thick vegetation, and regional studies show an extended spring-to-summer breeding period where seasonal conditions permit (Bird Count India; Indian Birds monograph).