
Photo: Frank Vassen · CC BY 2.0 (May be cropped or resized)
Phylloscopus inornatus
Rare visitor: recorded only occasionally in this country
Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) is a tiny green leaf warbler with a bright pale eyebrow, two strong wing bars and pale edging on the tertials. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).
It breeds across the eastern Palearctic, forages restlessly for insects in trees and shrubs and migrates mainly to tropical South and Southeast Asia, with smaller numbers travelling west into Europe. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. The Korean vertebrate catalogue used for this guide records the species in South Korea (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Korea occurrence records).