Page 337 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

WARBLERS AND ALLIES
Order Passeriformes Family Sylviidae Species Phylloscopus bonelli
Bonelli’s Warbler
faint pale line round, pale
over eye greyish head
dark tail pale greenish
with yellow- grey back
green feather
edges

solid,
spike-
like bill
yellowish
rump
green wings with
pale greenish
yellow coverts
silky white
IN FLIGHT underside
pale grey-
brown legs
FLIGHT: short, direct, flitting flights like other
similar small warblers.
southern equivalent of the Wood Warbler,
ABonelli’s Warbler is much less bright. It has an SUBSPECIES
obviously similar but simpler, slightly bubbling song,
often given from the top of a clump of dense oaks P. b. orientalis
on a valley side slope, or from a (Middle East); greyer
above
dense conifer. In either case, Bonelli’s call a hard
Warbler can be hard to spot. Patience chipp
is usually rewarded but views are
often brief as the bird is constantly
moving, threading its way quietly
through the foliage.
VOICE Call bright, finch-like hoo-eet
or chew-eee; song loose, dribbling,
bubbly trill on one note, less metallic
than Cirl Bunting’s, less ticking than
Wood Warbler’s, s’r’r’r’r’r’rrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
NESTING Domed grassy nest on
ground, under tussock or in cavity in SUBTLE FEATURES
bank; 5 or 6 eggs; 1 brood; May–July. Bonelli’s Warbler lacks striking features: it takes a few
FEEDING Picks insects from foliage. minutes of patient watching to identify it.
SIMILAR SPECIES OCCURRENCE
Breeds in Spain, Portugal, S France,
striped head stripe over stripe over Italy, and Balkans between April
eye eye
brighter and August. In deciduous and
duller below coniferous woodland, in clumps of
yellow below oak on bushy slopes and quite
small bushy pines; very rare
short wings migrant outside this range.
smaller
WOOD WARBLER WILLOW WARBLER CHIFFCHAFF Seen in the UK
see p.334 see p.333 see p.336 JF M A M J JA S ON D
Length 11–12cm (4 1 ⁄4 –4 3 ⁄4in) Wingspan 19–23cm (7 1 ⁄2 –9in) Weight 7–11g ( 1 ⁄4 – 3 ⁄8oz)
Social Solitary Lifespan Up to 5 years Status Secure
335