Dartford warbler

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Dartford warbler
Dartford Warbler - Ligura - Italy S4E3711 (18675159154).jpg
Dartford Warbler Provencegrasmucke (Sylvia undata) by J. Dietrich.jpg
Male above, female below
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sylviidae
Genus: Curruca
Species:
C. undata
Binomial name
Curruca undata
(Boddaert, 1783)
Synonyms
  • Sylvia undata
  • Sylvia dartfordiensis

The Dartford warbler (Curruca undata) 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.

Contents

Its breeding range lies west of a line from southern England to the heel of Italy (southern Apulia). The Dartford warbler is usually resident all year in its breeding range, but there is some limited migration.

Taxonomy and systematics

The Dartford warbler was first described in 1776 by the Welsh naturalist, Thomas Pennant. He introduced the English name and based his description on two specimens that had been obtained by the ornithologist John Latham from Bexley Heath, near Dartford in Kent. [2] In 1783 Latham included the warbler in his A General Synopsis of Birds but did not coin the binomial name, Sylvia dartfordiensis, until the supplement to his work was published in 1787. [3] [4] However, in 1783, before the publication of Latham's supplement, the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert introduced the name, Motacilla undata, based on a coloured plate of "Le Pitte-chou, de Provence" in Edmé-Louis Daubenton's Planches enluminées d'histoire naturelle. [5] [6] The specific epithet undata is from Medieval Latin undatus meaning "with wavy markings". [7] The type locality is Provence in France. [8]

This species probably forms a superspecies with Tristram's warbler and this in turn seems close to Marmora's warbler and the Balearic warbler. [9] [10] Altogether, this group of typical warblers bears a resemblance to the wrentit, the only species of Sylviidae from the Americas. However, the wrentit is less closely related to the genus Sylvia than to the parrotbills. [11] [12] Its visual similarity to the Dartford warbler group is an example of convergent evolution.

Three subspecies are recognised: [13]

Description

The Dartford warbler is a small, 13 cm (5.1 in), passerine bird, distinguished by its long tail compared with that of other warblers. Its plumage comprises unobtrusive and muted tones, which blend in with the dry dead plants, old wood or sunny greyish wood found in its preferred habitats.

Like many typical warblers, the Dartford warbler has distinct male and female plumages. The male has a grey back and head, reddish underparts, and a red eye. The reddish throat is spotted with white. The sides are a dull greyish tone, being more clear about the abdomen. In some populations males have bluish-grey or brownish-grey backs and heads. The female is paler below, especially on the throat, and a browner grey above. The female's throat also has white spots, although they are smaller and less marked than in the male. Juvenile birds are similar to females.

Distribution and habitat

The species is naturally rare. The largest European populations of Curruca undata are in the Iberian peninsula, others in much of France, in Italy and southern England and south Wales. In Africa it can be found only in small areas in the north, wintering in northern Morocco and northern Algeria.

Behaviour and ecology

Eggs Sylvia undata MHNT.jpg
Eggs
Male at Thursley Sylvia undata male.jpg
Male at Thursley
Female at Thursley Sylvia undata female.jpg
Female at Thursley

Breeding

Dartford warblers first breed when they are one year old. They are usually monogamous and the pair bond can persist from one year to the next. The male sometimes builds several simple nests (cock nests) of which one is chosen by the female, [15] but it is more usual for both birds to participate in constructing the breeding nest. In southern England the birds breed on heathlands, sometimes near the coast, and nest in either common gorse (Ulex europaeus) or common heather (Calluna vulgaris). [16] The compact cup-shaped nest is located in dense bushes, usually within 60 cm (24 in) of the ground. [16] It is formed mainly of grasses and is lined with a layer of finer material that can include thin roots and feathers. [17] [18] The eggs are laid from early April in southern France and Spain, and from mid-April in southern England. [17] The clutch is typically 3–5 eggs which are smooth and glossy, with a white or occasionally pale green ground and marked with brown speckles which are sometimes concentrated at the larger end. [17] [18] The average size of an egg is 17 mm × 13 mm (0.67 in × 0.51 in) with a weight of 1.4 g (0.049 oz) of which 6 percent is shell. [19] The eggs are incubated for 12–14 days mainly by the female. [20] The chicks are fed arthropods by both parents. The nestlings fledge 10–14 days after hatching and are then fed by their parents for a further two weeks. [20] Usually two and occasionally three broods are raised in a year. [17]

Feeding

It inhabits open fields with degraded scrub brush and is common in heather. In winter it may visit urban areas, but always feeds within shrubs in these areas. It nests in bushes with thorns and near the ground. These warblers are mostly insectivorous, eating caterpillars, butterflies, beetles and spiders.

The song of the Dartford warbler is a distinctive rattling warble.

Status and conservation

Plate from photographs by Smith Whiting, of an adult bird and a nest in the New Forest, England, from the book The Birds Of Hampshire (1905) by J. E. Kelsall & Philip W. Munn. The authors stated this to be the first photograph of a Dartford warbler in the wild. The Birds Of Hampshire - Kelsall & Lodge - 1905 - p118.jpg
Plate from photographs by Smith Whiting, of an adult bird and a nest in the New Forest, England, from the book The Birds Of Hampshire (1905) by J. E. Kelsall & Philip W. Munn. The authors stated this to be the first photograph of a Dartford warbler in the wild.

Dartford warblers almost died out in the United Kingdom in the severe winter of 1962/1963 when the national population dropped to just ten pairs. Sylvia undata is also sensitive to drought affecting breeding success or producing heath fires, as occurred during 1975 and 1976 in England when virtually all juveniles failed to survive their first year. [21]

However, this species can recover well in good quality habitat with favourable temperatures and rainfall, thanks to repeated nesting and a high survival rate for the young. Indeed, they recovered in some areas of the UK, but numbers are once again on the decline in other regions of their natural range.

The range of the Dartford warbler is restricted to western and southern Europe. The total population in 2012 was estimated at 1.1–2.5 million breeding pairs. The largest numbers occur in Spain where there were believed to be 983,000–1,750,000 pairs. For reasons that probably include loss of suitable habitat, the Spanish population appears to be declining. The species is therefore classed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being Near Threatened. [22]

A period of climatic warming since 1963 has seen the UK population increase to "more than 2,500 pairs in 2006 (Wotton et al. 2009). Expansion into patches of structurally suitable habitat (up to an altitude of 400m), more northerly areas and away from the core of the range, from Dorset and Hampshire to Derbyshire and Suffolk, is likely to have been facilitated by milder winter weather (Wotton et al. 2009, Bradbury et al. 2011). The Dartford warbler population in the UK is expected to continue to increase. However, future climate-based projections for the European range indicate that by 2080, more than 60% of the current European range may no longer be suitable (Huntley et al 2007). There is evidence that this is happening already, with severe declines in Spain and France (Green 2017). For this reason, the species is classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Global Red List. If the declines in southern Europe continue, the UK will become increasingly important for global conservation of this species". [23]

Related Research Articles

Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. They are not closely related to the New World warblers. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the cisticolas into Cisticolidae and the kinglets into Regulidae. In the past ten years they have been the subject of much research and many species are now placed into other families, including the Acrocephalidae, Cettiidae, Phylloscopidae, and Megaluridae. In addition some species have been moved into existing families or have not yet had their placement fully resolved. A smaller number of warblers, together with some babblers formerly placed in the family Timaliidae and the parrotbills, are retained in a much smaller family Sylviidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garden warbler</span> 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barred warbler</span> 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common whitethroat</span> 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sardinian warbler</span> 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 that 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.

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

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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyprus warbler</span> 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesser whitethroat</span> 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balearic warbler</span> 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.

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

The common grasshopper warbler is a species of Old World warbler in the grass warbler genus Locustella. It breeds across much of temperate Europe and the western Palearctic. It is migratory, wintering in north and west Africa.

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

The African desert warbler is a typical warbler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asian desert warbler</span> 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rüppell's warbler</span> 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 northeast Africa. This is a rare vagrant to western Europe. The name is occasionally cited as "Rueppell's warbler".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Orphean warbler</span> 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marmora's warbler</span> 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.

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

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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Orphean warbler</span> 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern subalpine warbler</span> 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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menetries's warbler</span> 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.

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

The Arabian warbler, also known as Red Sea warbler or Blandford's warbler, is a species of Old World warbler in the family Sylviidae. It is found in Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Israel, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Its natural habitat is dry savanna country where it is often found in patches of Acacia.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International. "Curruca undata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  2. ↑ Pennant, Thomas (1776). British Zoology, Volume 1. Vol. 1 (4th ed.). Warrington, United Kingdom: Printed by William Eyres, for Benjamin White. p. 389.
  3. ↑ Latham, John (1783). A General Synopsis of Birds, Volume 2. Vol. 2. London: Printed for Benj. White. p. 435.
  4. 1 2 Latham, John (1787). Supplement to the General Synopsis of Birds. London: Printed for Leigh & Sotheby. p. 287.
  5. 1 2 Boddaert, Pieter (1783). Table des planches enluminéez d'histoire naturelle de M. D'Aubenton : avec les denominations de M.M. de Buffon, Brisson, Edwards, Linnaeus et Latham, precedé d'une notice des principaux ouvrages zoologiques enluminés (in French). Utrecht. p. 40 Number 655.
  6. ↑ Daubenton, Edme-Louis (1765–1783). Planches enluminées d'histoire naturelle, Volume 7. Vol. 7. Plate 655, Le Pitte-chou, de provence.
  7. ↑ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 376, 395. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  8. ↑ Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1986). Check-list of Birds of the World, Volume 11. Vol. 11. Cambridge, Mass.: Museum of Comparative Zoology. pp. 285–286.
  9. ↑ Shirihai, Gargallo & Helbig 2001, pp. 24–29.
  10. ↑ Jønsson, Knud A.; Fjeldså, Jon (2006). "A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri)". Zoologica Scripta. 35 (2): 149–186. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00221.x. S2CID   85317440.
  11. ↑ Cibois, Alice (2003). "Mitochondrial DNA phylogeny of babblers (Timaliidae)". The Auk. 120 (1): 35–54. doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2003)120[0035:MDPOBT]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR   4090138. S2CID   85629890.
  12. ↑ Pasquet, Eric; Bourdon, Estelle; Kalyakin, Mikhail V.; Cibois, Alice (2006). "The fulvettas (Alcippe, Timaliidae, Aves): a polyphyletic group". Zoologica Scripta. 35 (6): 559–566. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00253.x. S2CID   84546365.
  13. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Sylviid babblers, parrotbills & white-eyes". World Bird List Version 5.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  14. ↑ Hartert, Ernst (1910). Die Vögel der paläarktischen Fauna, Heft 1. Vol. 1. Berlin: R. Friedländer & Sohn. p. 602.
  15. ↑ Shirihai, Gargallo & Helbig 2001, pp. 281–282.
  16. 1 2 Mason, C.F. (1976). "Breeding biology of the Sylvia warblers". Bird Study. 23 (3): 213–232. Bibcode:1976BirdS..23..213M. doi: 10.1080/00063657609476506 .
  17. 1 2 3 4 Snow, D.W.; Perrins, C.M., eds. (1998). "Dartford Warbler Sylvia undata". The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Concise Edition, Volume 2. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. 1288–1290. ISBN   0-19-850188-9.
  18. 1 2 Bunyard, Percy F. (1914). "On the breeding habits of the Dartford Warbler" (PDF). British Birds. 7 (8): 214–219.
  19. ↑ "Dartford Warbler Sylvia undata[Boddaert, 1783]". British Trust for Ornithology. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  20. 1 2 Bibby, Colin J. (1979). "Breeding biology of the Dartford warbler Sylvia undata in England". Ibis. 121 (1): 41–52. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1979.tb05013.x.
  21. ↑ Bibby, Colin J.; ‘Dartford Warblers in England’; British Birds, 72 (1979); pp. 10–22
  22. ↑ BirdLife International (2017). "Sylvia undata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2017: e.T22716984A117822768. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22716984A117822768.en . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  23. ↑ "The state of the UK's birds 2017" (PDF). Joint Nature Conservation Committee. pp. 30, 39. Retrieved 14 December 2017.

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