• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Range map
• Resources

Taxonomic note
Previously lumped with P. sarasinorum as Sulawesi Leaf-warbler P. sarasinorum (del Hoyo and Collar 2016). Eaton et al. (2016) split P. sarasinorum (sensu lato) into two species, Lompobattang Leaf Warbler P. sarasinorum of the Lompobattang massif, south-western Sulawesi, and Sulawesi Leaf Warbler P. nesophilus of the rest of Sulawesi, on the basis of consistent differences in song and plumage. Berryman and Eaton (2020) confirmed these differences, showing that, although there is overlap, the song of P. nesophilus has ‘a peculiar squeaky quality unmatched by sarasinorum, principally a result of its significantly greater bandwidth’. Comparison of photographs of the two forms confirm that they are consistently different in appearance: P. nesophilus has a paler crown with less contrast with mantle, and lacks (a) a central crown-stripe, (b) a narrow pale wing-bar and (c) prominent white in the tail (all prominent features in P. sarasinorum). Monotypic.

Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2022. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v7_Dec22.zip.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Least Concern
2016	Not Recognised
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	180,000 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	2.44 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1-50	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be common to very common (Coates et al. 1997, Eaton et al. 2021).

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats. Remote sensing data (Global Forest Watch 2022, using data from Hansen et al. [2013] and methods disclosed therein) indicate minimal (<2%) forest loss in this species' range and it is tolerant of forest edge and moderately degraded habitats (Eaton et al. 2021).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Indonesia	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	major	unset
Altitude	600 - 3400 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		No decline		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Sulawesi Leaf-warbler Phylloscopus nesophilus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/sulawesi-leaf-warbler-phylloscopus-nesophilus on 05/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 05/01/2025.