Willow warbler

Last updated

Willow warbler
Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus.jpg
Song
Call
Song, Recorded Gloucestershire, England
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Phylloscopidae
Genus: Phylloscopus
Species:
P. trochilus
Binomial name
Phylloscopus trochilus
Subspecies
  • P. t. trochilus (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • P. t. acredula (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • P. t. yakutensis (Ticehurst, 1935)
Phylloscopus trochilus Range Map.png
Yellow: Breeding (summer only)
Blue: Non-breeding winter visitor
Cross-hatched: migration.
Synonyms
  • Motacilla trochilusLinnaeus, 1758

The willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strongly migratory, with almost all of the population wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. [2] [3]

Contents

It is a bird of open woodlands with trees and ground cover for nesting, including most importantly birch, alder, and willow habitats. The nest is usually built in close contact with the ground, often in low vegetation. Like most Old World warblers (Sylviidae), this small passerine is insectivorous. [3] In northern Europe, it is one of the first warblers to return in the spring, though later than the closely related chiffchaff. [3] In spite of its small size, the willow warbler performs one of the longest migrations of any animal. [2] [4]

Taxonomy

The willow warbler was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Motacilla trochilus. [5] The willow warbler is now one of around 80 species placed in the genus Phylloscopus that was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826. [6] [7] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek phullon meaning "leaf" and skopos meaning "seeker" (from skopeo, "to watch"). The specific epithet is Ancient Greek meaning "wren". [8]

Before the English name was standardised to willow warbler by William Yarrell in 1843, it was merged with the chiffchaff and wood warbler as the "willow wren". [9] [10]

Three subspecies are recognised. [7] There is a clinal reduction in green and yellow plumage tones from west to east, with central birds browner and easternmost birds predominantly greyish: [2]

Description

The willow warbler is a typical leaf warbler in appearance, 11–12.5 cm (4.3–4.9 in) long and 7–15 g (0.25–0.53 oz) weight. It is greenish brown above and off-white to yellowish below; the wings are plain greenish-brown with no wingbars. Juveniles are yellower below than adults. It is very similar to the chiffchaff, but non-singing birds can be distinguished from that species by their paler pinkish-yellow legs (dark brown to blackish in chiffchaff), longer paler bill, more elegant shape and longer primary projection (wingtip). Its song is a simple repetitive descending whistle, while the contact call is a disyllabic 'hoo-eet', distinct from the more monosyllabic 'hweet' of chiffchaffs. [2] [3] [4] [11]

Behaviour

All populations are highly migratory, with the subspecies P. t. yakutensis migrating up to 12,000 km (7,500 mi) from eastern Siberia to southern Africa along the Asian–East African Flyway, one of the longest migrations of any for a bird of its size. [2] [4] Approximate timings are:

Status and conservation

WillowWarbler.jpg
Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden, Germany Phylloscopus trochilus MWNH 2279.JPG
Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden, Germany

Willow warblers prefer young, open, scrubby woodland with small trees, including human-altered habitats such as coppice and young plantations up to 10–20 years old. High amounts of birch, alder and willow, with good lichen amounts, and water features (e.g. streams), fields with large amounts of bracken and mosses, and patches of low bramble (for nest cover) are preferred, but it will use a wide range of other species, including young or open coniferous forests. [4] [12] Incorporating woodland ride edge thickets of varying structure and height is beneficial. They prefer damp woodland areas. Thicket forming shrubs like blackthorn provide pockets of habitat. Deer browsing can degrade the required low cover.

The highest population densities are found in Scandinavia (where it is the commonest bird of any), with up to 1,100 pairs per square kilometre, and a total population in Sweden and Finland of 24 million pairs. Lower densities occur further east, with peak densities of 27 pairs per square kilometre in central Siberia. Even lower densities are found on the southern edge of the breeding range, with just 9 pairs per square kilometre in Switzerland, and a total of just 100 pairs in the whole of northern Spain. [2]

In England this species has on average decreased in population by 70% within the last 25 years, with the biggest declines in the southeast. In Scotland some increases have occurred. The Forestry Commission offers grants under a scheme called England's Woodland Improvement Grant (EWIG); as does Natural England's Environmental Stewardship Scheme. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fieldfare</span> Species of bird

The fieldfare is a member of the thrush family Turdidae. It breeds in woodland and scrub in northern Europe and across the Palearctic. It is strongly migratory, with many northern birds moving south during the winter. It is a very rare breeder in the British Isles, but winters in large numbers in the United Kingdom, Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. It is omnivorous, eating a wide range of molluscs, insects and earthworms in the summer, and berries, grain and seeds in the winter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leaf warbler</span> Genus of birds

Leaf warblers are small insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus Phylloscopus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common chiffchaff</span> Small migratory passerine bird found in Europe, Asia and north Africa

The common chiffchaff, or simply the chiffchaff, is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds in open woodlands throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wood warbler</span> Species of bird

The wood warbler is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe, and just into the extreme west of Asian Russia in the southern Ural Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenish warbler</span> Species of bird

The greenish warbler is a widespread leaf warbler with a breeding range in northeastern Europe, and temperate to subtropical continental Asia. This warbler is strongly migratory and winters in India. It is not uncommon as a spring or early autumn vagrant in Western Europe and is annually seen in Great Britain. In Central Europe large numbers of vagrant birds are encountered in some years; some of these may stay to breed, as a handful of pairs does each year in Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pallas's leaf warbler</span> A small migratory passerine bird that breeds in northern Asia

Pallas's leaf warbler or Pallas's warbler, is a bird that breeds in mountain forests from southern Siberia east to northern Mongolia and northeast China. It is named after the German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas, who first formally described it. This leaf warbler is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in south China and adjacent areas of southeast Asia, although in recent decades increasing numbers have been found in Europe in autumn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-browed warbler</span> Species of bird

The yellow-browed warbler is a leaf warbler which breeds in the east Palearctic. This warbler is strongly migratory and winters mainly in tropical South Asia and South-east Asia, but also in small numbers in western Europe. Like the rest of Phylloscopidae, it was formerly included in the Old World warbler assemblage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common redshank</span> Species of bird

The common redshank or simply redshank is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunlin</span> Species of bird

The dunlin is a small wader in the genus Calidris. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from dun, "dull brown", with the suffix -ling, meaning a person or thing with the given quality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurasian oystercatcher</span> Species of bird

The Eurasian oystercatcher also known as the common pied oystercatcher, or just oystercatcher, is a wader in the oystercatcher bird family Haematopodidae. It has striking black and white plumage, a long straight orange-red bill, red eyes and relatively short dull pink legs. The sexes are similar in appearance but the bill of the female is longer than that of the male.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common scoter</span> Species of bird

The common scoter is a large sea duck, 43–54 cm (17–21 in) in length, which breeds over the far north of Europe and the Palearctic east to the Olenyok River. The black scoter of North America and eastern Siberia was formerly considered to be a subspecies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goldcrest</span> Small passerine bird in the kinglet family

The goldcrest is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. Its colourful golden crest feathers, as well as being called the "king of the birds" in European folklore, gives rise to its English and scientific names. The scientific name, R. regulus, means 'petty king' or prince. Several subspecies are recognised across the very large distribution range that includes much of the Palearctic and the islands of Macaronesia and Iceland. Birds from the north and east of its breeding range migrate to winter further south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurasian pygmy owl</span> Species of owl

The Eurasian pygmy owl is the smallest owl in Europe. It is a dark reddish to greyish-brown, with spotted sides and half of a white ring around the back of the neck. This species is found in the boreal forests of Northern and Central Europe to Siberia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Velvet scoter</span> Species of bird

The velvet scoter is a large sea duck, which breeds over the far north of Europe and the Palearctic west of the Yenisey basin. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek melas "black" and netta "duck". The species name is from the Latin fuscus "dusky brown".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meadow pipit</span> Species of bird

The meadow pipit is a small passerine bird, which breeds in much of the Palearctic, from southeastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; an isolated population also occurs in the Caucasus Mountains. It is migratory over most of its range, wintering in southern Europe, North Africa, and south-western Asia, but is resident year-round in western Europe, though even here many birds move to the coast or lowlands in winter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tree pipit</span> Species of bird

The tree pipit is a small passerine bird which breeds across most of Europe and the Palearctic as far East as the East Siberian Mountains. It is a long-distance migrant moving in winter to Africa and southern Asia. The scientific name is from Latin: anthus is the name for a small bird of grasslands, and the specific trivialis means "common".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radde's warbler</span> Species of passerine bird

Radde's warbler is a leaf warbler which breeds in Siberia. This warbler is strongly migratory and winters in Southeast Asia. The genus name Phylloscopus is from Ancient Greek phullon, "leaf", and skopos, "seeker". The specific schwarzi commemorates German astronomer Ludwig Schwarz (1822–1894).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Bonelli's warbler</span> Species of bird

The Eastern Bonelli's warbler, sometimes known as Balkan warbler, is a "warbler" in the leaf warbler genus Phylloscopus. It was formerly regarded as the eastern subspecies of a wider "Bonelli's warbler" species, but as a result of modern taxonomic developments, they are now usually considered to be two species:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twite</span> Species of bird

The twite is a small brown passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is a partially migratory species that is found in northern Europe and across the Palearctic to China. It mainly feeds on small seeds but occasionally also feeds on insects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern crowned warbler</span> Species of bird

The eastern crowned warbler is a species of Old World warbler in the family Phylloscopidae. It inhabits boreal and temperate forests in the east Palearctic.

References

  1. BirdLife International. (2024). "Phylloscopus trochilus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2024: e.T22715240A264584438. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hoyo, J. del; et al., eds. (2006). Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 11. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. pp.  649. ISBN   84-87334-22-9.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Baker, Kevin (1997). Warblers of Europe, Asia and North Africa (Helm Identification Guides). Christopher Helm. pp. 256–259. ISBN   0-7136-3971-7.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Snow, D. W.; Perrins, C. M. (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic (Concise ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-854099-X.
  5. Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 188.
  6. Boie, Friedrich (1826). "Generalübersicht der ornithologischen Ordnungen Familien und Gattugen". Isis von Oken (in German). 19. col. 972.
  7. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2022). "Bushtits, leaf warblers, reed warblers". IOC World Bird List Version 12.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  8. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp.  221, 391. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  9. Yarrell, William (1843). A History of British Birds. London: John Van Voorst. pp. 302–306.
  10. Lockwood, William Burley (1993) [1984]. The Oxford Dictionary of British Bird Names (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 167. ISBN   978-0-19-866196-2.
  11. Ageing and sexing (PDF) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta
  12. 1 2 RSPB Woodland Management For Birds – Willow Warbler