Lanceolated Warbler

The lanceolated warbler is 11.5–12.5 centimetres long, a short-necked, short-tailed bird with dull brown plumage that is streaked black above and streaked black below. Male and female are coloured alike. Two subspecies are recognised. In central Europe it is a very rare vagrant: between 1988 and 2002 individuals were seen five times in Belgium and once each in the Netherlands and on Heligoland. (German Wikipedia, general species account)

The breeding range runs from northeastern Europe across the northern Asian taiga to the Japanese island of Hokkaido. The nominate form occurs from northeastern Europe to Kamchatka, and hendersoni from Sakhalin to Japan. It is a long-distance migrant with main winter quarters in Southeast Asia as far as western Java and Bangladesh; breeders from western Siberia first fly 5,000 kilometres east and then a further 4,000–6,000 kilometres south through eastern China. (German Wikipedia, general species account)