Scientists discovered a new bird, called the Sichuan bush warbler, in China after hearing its distinctive song.
The shy bird is believed to have remained undiscovered because it hides in bushy vegetation, Michigan State University reported.
"The Sichuan bush warbler is exceedingly secretive and difficult to spot as its preferred habitat is dense brush and tea plantations," said Pamela Rasmussen, MSU integrative biologist, assistant curator at the MSU Museum and co-author on the paper., who has helped document and scientifically describe 10 new species of birds. "However, it distinguishes itself thanks to its distinctive song that consists of a low-pitched drawn-out buzz, followed by a shorter click, repeated in series."
The bird appears to be surprisingly common in central China, and doesn't appear to be threatened. The warbler's closest cousin is the Russet bush warbler, and can be found in the same mountain range. The Sichuan bush warbler generally lives at lower elevations while the Russet prefers to be higher up. An analysis of mitochondrial DNA revealed that the two warbler species are closely related and share a common ancestor that flew the skies 850,000 years ago.
The newly-discovered bird's Latin name, Locustella chengi, was given in honor of the late Cheng Tso-hsin, who was considered to be China's greatest ornithologist. Cheng founded the Peking Natural History Museum and penned 140 scientific papers and 30 books.
"We wanted to honor Professor Cheng Tso-hsin for his unparalleled contributions to Chinese ornithology," Rasmussen said. "Many species are named for European explorers and monarchs but few bear the names of Asian scientists."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Avian Research.
