Page 333 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

WARBLERS AND ALLIES
Order Passeriformes Family Sylviidae Species Hippolais icterina
Icterine Warbler pale yellow
between bill
and eye
large head

pale grey-green long, spike-like
upperparts bill (orange-pink
bill with dark
ridge on adult)
panel of pale
feather edges
long, on wings
square
tail whitish underside (pale
lemon-yellow from
ADULT chin to tail on adult)
IN FLIGHT

dull grey legs
ne of the handful
Oof Hippolais warblers,
the Icterine Warbler is large,
square-tailed, and broad-billed. JUVENILE
The broad bill is not always obvious,
but even in a side view, does look
strong, long, and straight, almost spike-like,
emphasized by its pale colour. Hippolais FLIGHT: quite strong, direct, long-winged,
warblers are best identified by distribution and swerving into cover.
structure, especially the proportions of the
various elements of wing, tail, and undertail GENERIC CHARACTER
Hippolais warblers are heavy, with
coverts, which help to separate them from plain faces and dagger-like bills.
each other and from confusingly similar
Acrocephalus species.
VOICE Call melodious ti-ti-looi or di-deroi,
hard tik; song loud, fast, prolonged, varied
warbling with many imitations, short, shrill,
nasal notes and dideroi call intermixed.
NESTING Deep cup nest suspended from
forked branch in tree; 4 or 5 eggs; 1 brood;
May–August.
FEEDING Takes insects from foliage; pulls
berries from twigs with tug of bill. OCCURRENCE
Widespread as summer visitor and
SIMILAR SPECIES breeding bird from E France
eastwards and northwards except
MELODIOUS WARBLER dark eye- REED WARBLER in N Scandinavia. In open mixed,
see p.332 stripe smaller head see p.324
rounder and bill deciduous, or coniferous woodland
head smaller between April and September.
Spring and especially autumn
shorter
wings with browner; no migrants on NW European coasts
pale panel green or yellow including E Great Britain.
notched WILLOW WARBER Seen in the UK
tail see p.333 JF M A M J J AS O N D
Length 13.5cm (5–6in) Wingspan 20–24cm (8–9 1 ⁄2in) Weight 10–14g ( 3 ⁄8– 1 ⁄2oz)
Social Solitary Lifespan Up to 5 years Status Secure
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