The pale-footed bush warbler was formally described in 1872 by the English naturalist William Blandford under the binomial name Phylloscopus pallidipes.

[2] In peninsular India the pale-footed bush warbler U. p. pallidipes has been reported as breeding in the Eastern Ghats by Salim Ali and Sidney Dillon Ripley.

They collected a specimen from Sunkarametta, Araku Valley, Vishakapatnam district [altitude of 1,000 m (3,300 ft)] in the month of April.

[6] A male adult of the subspecies U. p. osmastoni was first described from Andaman Islands [altitude 730 m (2,400 ft)] by Ernst Hartert.

[9] Subspecies U. p. pallidipes has also been reported from Simlipal Tiger Reserve, Simlipal National Park Odisha [altitude 600–1,500 m (2,000–4,900 ft)] in December 2012 from a grassland near a Sal forest[10] The pale-footed bush warbler is extremely shy and is a great skulker, meaning it is very difficult to see even during the breeding season.