Wood Warbler
Phylloscopus sibilatrix
Small warbler with subtly distinctive plumage: muted lime green above, silky white below, with a pale yellow throat and yellow eyebrows. Favors shady deciduous and mixed woods for breeding, especially areas with beech and oak. Often rather inconspicuous, feeding high in leafy canopy, but can be located by distinctive, ringing song. Slightly larger and longer-winged than Willow Warbler. Occupies a range of wooded and brushy habitats in non-breeding range, from moist forests to dry wooded savannas.
Identification
The wood warbler is 11–12.5 cm long, and a typical leaf warbler in appearance, green above and white below with a lemon-yellow breast. It can be distinguished from similar species, like the chiffchaff P. collybita and the willow warbler, P. trochilus by its yellow supercilium, throat and upper breast, pale tertial edges, longer primary projection, and by its shorter but broader tail.<p>It is a summer visitor to the United Kingdom, seen from April until August. It has declined there in recent years. It is rare in Ireland, where there is a very small but apparently stable breeding population in County Wicklow.<p>Various factors associated with forest structure, including slope, forest cover, proportion of broad-leaf forest, canopy height and forest edge length, all influence the occupancy rates of this declining forest species. Conservation measures are therefore required that provide and maintain the wood warblers preferred forest structure. There is also a preference for forest in the non-breeding season; however, this habitat is declining in wintering areas such as Ghana. Despite the decline in forest habitat, there has been no change in the number of wood warblers as it appears that this species can use degraded habitats, such as well-wooded farms. However, further loss of trees will likely have a negative impact on this species in the future.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Phylloscopus sibilatrix
- Authority
- (Bechstein, 1793)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Phylloscopidae
- Genus
- Phylloscopus
Range and habitat
This is a bird of open but shady mature woodlands, such as beech and sessile oak, with some sparse ground cover for nesting. The dome-shaped nest is built near the ground in low shrub. Six or seven eggs are laid in May; there may be a second brood. Like most Old World warblers, this small passerine is insectivorous.<p>The main nest predators of wood warblers breeding in the primeval habitat of Białowieża Forest, Poland, are mammals, especially medium-sized carnivores, which mostly predate nests at night using sound or olfaction. Therefore, nest survival declined with nest progression likely due to increased predator detection of older and louder chicks.
- Breeding range
- PAL : Europe through n Kazakhstan and c Russia
- Non-breeding range
- w, c AF
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Trocaz Pigeon
Columba trocaz
Endemic to the island of Madeira, where it is largely restricted to native laurel and tree heath forests. Body is largely gray with a purple-pink breast, and a noticeable silvery patch with black streaks on the side of the neck. The iris is yellow with a red ring around the eyes. Compare with the only other pigeon on the island, the Rock Pigeon; note differences in structure, color, and habitat preference. Song is a series of very low, groaning coos.
Ridgway's Hawk
Buteo ridgwayi
A scarce small hawk of forests and open woodlands. The adult is very distinctive with its gray hood and barred orange belly. Immatures are pale-buff below with brown streaking and are brown above. Immatures separated from immature Red-tailed Hawk by small size and, in flight, by the lack of dark patagial bars. Typically rather approachable. Feeds on a wide variety of prey including large insects, small birds, and bats. Common call is loud, shrill, repeated “wee-uh.”
Plain Pigeon
Patagioenas inornata
A large pale pigeon of woodlands and forest edges; often found perching high in trees. Its ruddy shoulders and unbanded tail readily separate it from the similar Ring-tailed Pigeon. When perched, note the whispy whitish leading edge to wing, seen as a bar on upperwing in flight, that is suggestive of White-winged Dove, but that species has brighter white wing markings and is smaller. Scaly-naped and White-crowned Pigeons are much darker. Call is a soft, deep “HOOO-hoo-hoooo” and variations thereof but never similar to “oooOOO-hooo” of Ring-tailed Pigeon.
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