Small leaf warbler with many extremely similar relatives. Like other “Pallas’s-type” leaf warblers, has olive-yellow upperparts, pale underparts, prominent brow and crown stripes, double wingbars, and a pale rump. Unlike Ashy-throated and Buff-barred Warblers, lacks any white on outer tail edges. Pallas’s averages yellower-headed and brighter overall. Gansu and Chinese Leaf Warblers can be incredibly similar, but Lemon-rumped averages whiter-browed and yellower-bellied than the former, more contrastingly-marked on the head than the latter, and darker-billed than both. As with many other physically similar leaf warblers, best distinguished by voice and habitat. Breeds in coniferous and mixed forests at mid- to high-elevation forests, though may descend into foothills in the winter. Two song types are both highly distinctive; one is a buzzy, descending rattling trill and the other is a series of high-pitched clicking twitters. Call is a loud, strident pair of notes: “pse-tew!”