Spectacled warbler

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Spectacled warbler
Sylvia conspicillata Gran Canaria.jpg
Male on Gran Canaria
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sylviidae
Genus: Curruca
Species:
C. conspicillata
Binomial name
Curruca conspicillata

The spectacled warbler (Curruca conspicillata) is a species in the typical warbler genus, Curruca. The specific conspicillata is from Latin conspicillum, a place to look from, equivalent to "spectacled". [2]

Contents

It breeds in northwest Africa, southwest Europe from Iberia to Italy, and then further east on the eastern Mediterranean islands and coastal regions. It is mainly resident in Africa, but other populations migrate to winter more widely in north and west Africa and Egypt. This bird is a rare vagrant to northern and western Europe.

It also occurs in some Atlantic islands. The subspecies orbitalis has been proposed for those of the Cape Verde Islands. The presumed subspecies for the Madeira birds, bella, is today usually included in this taxon, as are the birds of the Canary Islands, where the species is quite common except on El Hierro and known as zarzalero y ratonero. [3]

These are very small "warblers" and are intermediate between common whitethroats and Tristram's warbler in coloration. Spectacled warblers are brown above and buff below, with chestnut wing patches and a white throat. Adult males have a grey head and the white eye ring which gives the species its name. Immature birds can be confused with both the whitethroat and the western subalpine warbler, and identification is difficult in the field. The song is a fast high warble.

About the precise relationships of this bird, not much can be said with certainty. It seems as if its intermediate appearance, apart from the autapomorphic white eye ring, indicates its relationships reasonably well. At least, it is not the closest living relative of Tristram's warbler. [4] [5]

These small passerine birds are found in dry open country with bushes. 3-6 eggs are laid in a nest in a bush. Like its relatives, the spectacled warbler is insectivorous.

Eggs of Curruca conspicillata MHNT Sylvia conspicillata MHNT 232 Ain Taga Algerie.jpg
Eggs of Curruca conspicillata MHNT

Related Research Articles

Garden warbler A small migratory passerine bird

The garden warbler is a common and widespread small bird that breeds in most of Europe and in the Palearctic to western Siberia. It is a plain, long-winged and long-tailed typical warbler with brown upperparts and dull white underparts; the sexes are similar and juveniles resemble the adults. Its two subspecies differ only slightly and interbreed where their ranges overlap. Due to its lack of distinguishing features, this species can be confused with a number of other unstreaked warblers. The garden warbler's rich melodic song is similar to that of the blackcap, its closest relative, which competes with it for territory when nesting in the same woodland.

Barred warbler Species of bird

The barred warbler is a typical warbler which breeds across temperate regions of central and eastern Europe and western and central Asia. This passerine bird is strongly migratory, and winters in tropical eastern Africa.

Common whitethroat Species of bird

The common whitethroat or greater whitethroat is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds throughout Europe and across much of temperate western Asia. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, and winters in tropical Africa, Arabia, and Pakistan.

Sardinian warbler Species of bird

The Sardinian warbler is a common and widespread typical warbler from the Mediterranean region. Like most Curruca species, it has distinct male and female plumages. The adult male has a grey back, whitish underparts, black head, white throat and red eyes. Plumages are somewhat variable even in the same locality, with the intensity of a reddish hue on upper- and/or underside varies from absent to pronounced. The female is mainly brown above and buff below, with a grey head. The Sardinian warbler's song is fast and rattling, and is very characteristic of the Mediterranean areas where this bird breeds.

Western subalpine warbler Species of bird

The western subalpine warbler is a small typical warbler which breeds in the southernmost areas of Europe and north-western Africa.

Cyprus warbler Species of bird

The Cyprus warbler is a typical warbler which breeds only on Cyprus. This small passerine bird is a short-distance migrant, and winters in Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

Lesser whitethroat Species of bird

The lesser whitethroat is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds in temperate Europe, except the southwest, and in the western and central Palearctic. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, wintering in Africa just south of the Sahara, Arabia and India.

Dartford warbler Species of bird

The Dartford warbler is a typical warbler from the warmer parts of western Europe and northwestern Africa. It is a small warbler with a long thin tail and a thin pointed bill. The adult male has grey-brown upperparts and is dull reddish-brown below except for the centre of the belly which has a dirty white patch. It has light speckles on the throat and a red eye-ring. The sexes are similar but the adult female is usually less grey above and paler below.

Balearic warbler Species of bird

Balearic warbler is a typical warbler, genus Curruca. It is endemic to the Balearic Islands, apart from Menorca. It groups with the Marmora's warbler, Tristram's warbler and the Dartford warbler.


The African desert warbler is a typical warbler.

Asian desert warbler Species of bird

The Asian desert warbler is a typical warbler which breeds in the deserts of central and western Asia and the extreme east of Europe, and migrating to similar habitats in southwestern Asia and the far northeast of Africa in winter. Until recently it was considered conspecific with the African desert warbler, but is now given specific status. The two are still each other's closest living relatives, and their relationships to other typical warblers are not clear. They may be fairly close to the common whitethroat; particularly, female whitethroats look much like a richly coloured Asian desert warbler. But it seems that all these three taxa are fairly basal members of the genus.

Rüppells warbler Species of bird

Rüppell's warbler is a typical warbler of the genus Curruca. It breeds in Greece, Turkey and neighbouring islands. It is migratory, wintering in north east Africa. This is a rare vagrant to western Europe. The name is occasionally cited as "Rueppell's warbler".

Western Orphean warbler Species of bird

The western Orphean warbler is a typical warbler of the genus Curruca. This species occurs in summer around the Mediterranean, through western Europe and extending into northwest Africa. It is migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a rare vagrant to northern and north-western Europe.

Marmoras warbler Species of bird

Marmora's warbler is a typical warbler in the Sylviidae family. The specific sarda is a Latin feminine form for a person from Sardinia.

Eastern Orphean warbler Species of bird

The eastern Orphean warbler is a typical warbler of the genus Curruca. This species occurs in summer around the Mediterranean, through the Balkans via Turkey, the Caucasus and surrounding regions to Central Asia. It is migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa.

Eastern subalpine warbler Species of bird

The eastern subalpine warbler is a small typical warbler which breeds in the southernmost areas of Europe. It was first described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name Motacilla cantillans. The specific cantillans is Latin for "warbling" from canere, "to sing".

Humes whitethroat Species of bird

Hume's whitethroat is a species of typical warbler. Until recently, it was considered conspecific with the lesser whitethroat as some authorities now reinstate. These are seen as members of a superspecies which also includes the desert whitethroat. The present species together with the aridland desert whitethroat(s) seems to form an Asian lineage in the superspecies.

Desert whitethroat Species of bird

The desert whitethroat is a typical warbler. Until recently, it was considered conspecific with the lesser whitethroat as some authorities now reinstate. These are seen as members of a superspecies. The desert whitethroat together with Hume's whitethroat form an Asian lineage in the superspecies, which have diverged into species adapted to drier lowlands and moister mountain habitats respectively. The name small whitethroat has also been used by some authors, and desert lesser whitethroat before it was split from lesser whitethroat.

Menetriess warbler Species of bird

Menetries's warbler or Ménétries's warbler is a small passerine bird of Southwest Asia belonging to the genus Curruca. The name of the species commemorates Édouard Ménétries, the French zoologist who described the species in 1832. It is closely related to the Sardinian warbler of the Mediterranean basin and is similar to it in appearance.

<i>Curruca</i> Genus of birds

Curruca is a genus of Sylviid warblers, best represented in Europe, Africa, and Asia. All of these species were formerly placed in the genus Sylvia.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Sylvia conspicillata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp.  117, 376. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. Álamo Tavío, Manuel (1975): "Aves de Fuerteventura en peligro de extinción [ permanent dead link ]". In: Asociación Canaria para Defensa de la Naturaleza (ed.): Aves y plantas de Fuerteventura en peligro de extinción: 10-32. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
  4. Helbig, A. J. (2001): Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus Sylvia. In: Shirihai, Hadoram: Sylvia warblers: 24-29. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. ISBN   0-691-08833-0
  5. Jønsson, Knud A. and Fjeldså, Jon (2006): A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri). Zool. Scripta 35(2): 149–186. doi : 10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00221.x

Further reading

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