Long-billed Bush Warbler sighted in India

A team of five birders has recorded the first confirmed Indian sighting of the elusive Long-billed Bush Warbler in 46 years, spotting the Near Threatened species in Ladakh’s Suru Valley as part of a mission to find the country’s “long lost birds”.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

The Long-billed Bush Warbler (Locustella major) was sighted on July 15 in dense willow thickets at over 3,200 metres altitude, three days into an expedition that began on July 12. The team first detected the bird's distinctive insect-like call before making visual confirmation.

“This is a record after 46 years for India,” said expedition member Harish Thangaraj, who recently discovered another rare species—the Sind woodpecker—in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer.

The last confirmed Indian sighting was in 1979 when Southampton University researchers spotted the warbler near Sankoo in Kargil.

The species, historically common in the Dras and Suru valleys until the 1920s, likely declined due to habitat loss as agricultural fields replaced the bushes it depends upon.