Sardinian Warbler

Curruca melanocephala

Compact, robust, and big-headed warbler. Males are striking with a black hood contrasting with whitish throat, gray back, and red eyering. Females duller with a gray hood, white throat, and buff body. Common in many typical Mediterranean habitats including tall bushes, open woodlands, gardens, coastal scrub, and plantations; also in oases, acacia woodlands, and scrubby desert in non-breeding range. Usually first detected by its song, a fast, angry-sounding rattling "ctret-tret-tret-tret-tret" or "tetwtweer-tik-tik-tik" with whispering in between. The call is a dry "tseck."

分类信息

The Sardinian warbler was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla melanocephala. Gmelin based his entry on a description by the Italian zoologist Francesco Cetti in his book Gli uccelli di Sardegna (The Birds of Sardinia) that was published in 1776. This was the second volume of his Storia naturale di Sardegna. Cetti did not use scientific names for the species. When a translation of Cetti's three volumes were published in German, the translator, David Piesch, and the editor, Nathanael Gottfried Leske, included an Appendix at the end of the third volume (published in 1784) in which they proposed the binomial name Motacilla melanocephala, the identical name that was later adopted by Gmelin. In spite of this earlier publication, as of 2023 Gmelin is treated as the authority for the species.<p>The species was formerly placed in the genus Sylvia that was introduced in 1769 by the Italian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli. The genus name is from Modern Latin silvia, a woodland sprite, related to silva, a wood. The specific melanocephala is from Ancient Greek melas, "black", and kephale, "head". Currently, the Sardinian warbler is placed in the genus Curruca by the IOC, along with most of the species formerly classified in the genus Sylvia.<p>Together with Menetries's warbler the Sardinian warbler forms a superspecies. Both have white malar areas and light throats, and otherwise black heads in adult males, as well as a naked ring around the eye. The eastern subalpine warbler, which seems the superspecies' closest relative, has a dark throat and breast and a dark gray upper head in males, but otherwise shares these characters. These three species are related to a dark-throated superspecies consisting of Rüppell's warbler and the Cyprus warbler, which also share the white malar area with blackish above.<p>This bird may be considered a superspecies, divided into the western Curruca melanocephala and Curruca momus from the more arid regions of the Near East and adjacent Africa.<p>The geographical variation in the Sardinian warbler conforms to some extent with Gloger's rule, though not as strongly as in some other typical warblers. The validity of leucogastra and norissae is not accepted by some authors, and valverdei has been described very recently. On the other hand, leucogastra might be more than one subspecies.

学名
Curruca melanocephala
命名信息
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)
Passeriformes
Sylviidae
Curruca

分布与栖息地

It breeds in the southernmost areas of Europe and just into Asia in Turkey and the eastern end of the Mediterranean. This small passerine bird, unlike most "warblers", is not particularly migratory, but some birds winter in North Africa, and it occurs as a vagrant well away from the breeding range, as far as Great Britain.

繁殖区
PAL : sw
非繁殖区
n AF
迁徙
Complete migrants

行为

This is a bird of open country and cultivation, with bushes for nesting. The nest is built in low shrub or brambles, and 3-6 eggs are laid. Like most "warblers", it is insectivorous, but will also take berries and other soft fruit.

保护状况

种群趋势
rising

照片

分布

鸟叫声

其他鸟类

Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank

Tringa erythropus

Elegant wader with a long fine bill and long reddish legs (dark on breeding adults). Striking breeding plumage dark overall. Nonbreeding plumage is paler and grayer than smaller and chunkier Common Redshank. In flight often appears dark overall with narrow white oval up middle of back. Breeds in arctic bogs and swamps; migrants occur in varied wetland habitats. Usually seen as singles or small groups, though will sometimes congregate in large flocks, especially on wintering grounds. Feeds mainly by wading in fairly deep water, probing and picking with its bill, at times swimming.

Sao Tome Scops-Owl

Sao Tome Scops-Owl

Otus hartlaubi

Small, richly colored owl with small ear tufts. The overall coloration is variable, and can be rich rufous or pale buff. Found in lowland rainforest, secondary forest, and plantations on the island of Sao Tome. The vocalization is a descending, whistled “pyeeo,” repeated every several seconds. Vocalizes frequently at night and in the evening and early morning. Easily identified, as the only other owl on Sao Tome is the much larger Barn Owl. 

Fiery-shouldered Parakeet

Fiery-shouldered Parakeet

Pyrrhura egregia

Medium-sized parakeet of tepui highlands. Plumage mostly green with distinctive yellow and red patches at the bend of the wing, visible even on perched birds. Also note long tail, pale bill, and white ring around eye. Relatively common but can be difficult to see well; groups fly through canopy, stopping abruptly to feed in fruiting and flowering trees, where they can easily be overlooked. Call is a rollicking, screeching chatter like other Pyrrhura. No similar parakeet occurs in high-elevation tepui forests.

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