Garden warbler
Garden warbler | |
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The nominate subspecies in Sweden | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Sylviidae |
Genus: | Sylvia |
Species: | S. borin
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Binomial name | |
Sylvia borin (Boddaert, 1783)
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Subspecies | |
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Range of S. borin (Compiled by: BirdLife International and Handbook of the Birds of the World (2016) 2009.) Breeding Passage Non-breeding
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The garden warbler (Sylvia borin) is a common and widespread small
The preferred breeding habitat in Eurasia is open woodland with dense low cover for nesting; despite its name, gardens are rarely occupied by this small
The garden warbler is hunted by
Taxonomy
The genus Sylvia, the
The nearest relatives of the garden warbler outside the sister group are believed to be the
The garden warbler was given the
In the 19th and early 20th centuries there was some uncertainty as to the correct authority for this species. Various names were used including Sylvia salicaria Linnaeus 1766,[10] and Sylvia simplex Latham 1787.[11] Confusingly, the species was also known as Sylvia hortensis Bechstein 1802, where hortensis is the specific epithet of the western Orphean warbler.[12][13][14]
There are two recognised subspecies.[15]
- Sylvia borin borin (Boddaert, 1783), the Bosnia.
- S. b. woodwardi (Sharpe, 1877), named for Sharpe's collaborator Bernard Barham Woodward,[16] breeds in eastern Europe and temperate Asia east to western Siberia.
Intermediate birds occur where the recognised forms meet and interbreed, and have sometimes been given subspecies status, including S. b. kreczmeri in Poland and S. b. pateffi in Bulgaria, but these are not generally accepted as valid taxa.[15]
Description
The garden warbler is 14 cm (5.5 in) long with a 7.6–8.4 cm (3.0–3.3 in) wing length.[15] The weight is typically 16–22 g (0.56–0.78 oz), but can be up to 35.5 g (1.25 oz) for birds preparing to migrate.[17] It is a plain, long-winged and long-tailed bird with unstreaked olive-brown upperparts and dull white underparts.[18] It has a whitish eyering and a faint pale supercilium, and there is a buff wash to the throat and flanks. The eye is black, the legs are bluish-grey and the strong bill has a grey upper and paler grey lower mandible. The male and female are indistinguishable by external appearance including size. Juveniles have a looser plumage than an adult, with paler and greyer upperparts and a buff tone to the underparts. The eastern subspecies S. b. woodwardi is slightly larger and paler than the nominate form with a greyer tone to the upperparts and whiter underparts.[15] The subspecies are hard to distinguish visually where they occur together in Africa, but a wing length greater than 80 mm (3.1 in) confirms S. b. woodwardi when birds are trapped.[18]
The plain appearance of the garden warbler means that it can be confused with several other species. The melodious and icterine warblers usually have long bills and a yellowish tint to their plumage. The booted warbler is similar in colour, although it is smaller, more delicately built and has a flesh-coloured bill. Western and eastern olivaceous warblers are also relatively small, and have white outer tail feathers as well as a pinkish bill. Juvenile barred warblers, which lack the obvious barring of adults, are much larger than garden warblers and have a pale double wingbar.[15]
Juvenile garden warblers have a partial moult mainly involving the body plumage between June and September prior to migration. Adults also have a similar, but sometimes more extensive, partial moult in late summer, and a complete moult in their African wintering areas before the return migration.[18]
Voice
The male's song, usually delivered by birds in dense cover,
Distribution and habitat
The garden warbler breeds in most of Europe between the 12–28 °C (54–82 °F)
The nominate subspecies occurs in the western and central parts of the winter range,[17] although some birds occur as far east as Kenya.[23] S. b. woodwardi winters in eastern and southern Africa.[15] Movements in Africa are poorly known, although at least some birds return to the same location in subsequent years.[22] There are only a handful of records of birds recorded in Europe in winter, from Corsica, the UK and Ireland. Spring migration routes are poorly known, but appear to lie more directly across the Mediterranean.[22] This warbler has occurred as a vagrant in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Iceland, São Tomé and Príncipe, Somalia, Yemen, Svalbard, Jan Mayen and Madeira.[17][24]
The breeding habitat of the garden warbler is open areas with dense bushes, including thickets and woodland edges. Shady areas and a bushy or herbaceous undergrowth are preferred, as are woods adjacent to rivers or reed beds; in Ireland it favours thickets on the shores of small lakes. A tolerance of willow, alder and birch allows it to breed farther north and at higher altitudes than any other European Sylvia warbler. Mature conifers and dense plantations are avoided, although young conifer plantations with thick undergrowth are suitable for nesting. Despite its name, it is not a bird of gardens. In Africa, a wide range of habitats with trees are used, although closed forests and arid areas are again avoided. This warbler occurs at altitudes of up to 2,600 m (8,500 ft) in suitable mountain woodland, although in East Africa it is usually found at a lower altitude than the blackcap, and in moister areas than the common whitethroat.[22]
Behaviour
Breeding
Garden warblers first breed when they are one year old, and are mainly
A male attracts a female to his territory through song and a display which involves rapid wing beating while perched. He will also build a number of simple nests (cock's nests) to show to his mate, although only rarely will she complete the structure, usually starting afresh.
The first eggs are laid in late April in southern Germany, early May in northwest Europe, and late May in Finland. The season is prolonged with some birds nesting as late as July.
The southward migration starts in mid-July, with larger numbers departing in August and peaking in early September. Most adults have gone by mid-September, although juveniles may linger for another month.[17]
On average, just over 50% of breeding pairs are successful in producing at least one fledged young from a nest, with early breeding and low population density being factors increasing success. In the UK, more than 50% of the failures are due to predation and about 30% result from food shortages in bad weather.[22] The annual survival rate is about 50% for adults and 26% for juveniles in their first year. The typical lifespan is two years,[32] but a bird in Sweden lived to ten years and two months.[35] Much greater ages, up to 24 years, have been recorded in captive garden warblers.[22]
Feeding
The garden warbler feeds mainly on insects in the breeding season, although other small
In Africa, the warbler eats insects as well as berries, and the fruits of the introduced
Fruit is normally picked by a perched bird, although there is a record of a
Predators and parasites
The main predators of the garden warbler are
External parasites of the garden warbler include the fleas Ceratophyllus gallinae and Dasypsyllus gallinulae and the mite Syringophilosis borini, named after its host.[49][50] Two species of protozoan parasites in the genus Isospora occur in garden warblers, I. sylvianthina and I. sylviae. Samples from two sites showed infection levels above 74% and 28% respectively for the two species. The extent of infection does not impact on the bird's body mass or the amount of body fat.[51] Three strains of another protozoan, Haemoproteus parabelopolskyi are found only in the garden warbler, and form a monophyletic group. Seventeen further members of that group are found only in the blackcap, and another three occur in the African hill babbler, supporting the shared ancestry of the three bird species.[5]
Status
The garden warbler has a very large range of 9,650,000 km2 (3,730,000 sq mi), and its population in Europe is estimated at 17–31 million breeding pairs. Allowing for birds breeding in Asia, the total population is between 54 and 124 million individuals. There is no evidence of any serious decline in numbers, so it is classified by the
There has been a slight decline in numbers in Europe since 1980,[24] although the Scandinavian population is growing.[22] Climate change appears to be affecting the migration pattern of the garden warbler and blackcap. Both are arriving in Europe earlier than previously, and blackcaps and juvenile (but not adult) garden warblers are departing nearly two weeks later than in the 1980s. Birds of both species are longer-winged and lighter than in the past, suggesting a longer migration as the breeding range expands northwards.[52]
In culture
In his
The garden warbler is prized as a gastronomic delicacy in Mediterranean countries. French epicure Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said of the warbler when cooked like ortolan bunting "if it were the size of a pheasant, it would be worth an acre of land".[56] An Italian stuffed sardine dish sarde a beccafico derives its name from its supposed resemblance to the cooked birds, known in that country as beccafico, fig-pecker.[57]
Old names for the garden warbler, such as strawsmear, small straw and haychat, are often derived from its choice of nesting material, although the commonest of the English folk names was "pettychaps". These names were often shared with other warblers including the blackcap, common whitethroat and common chiffchaff.[58][59]
References
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- ^ Jobling (2010) p. 59.
- ^ Jobling (2010) p. 75.
- ^ Yarrell, William; Newton, Alfred (1871–1874). A History of British Birds. Vol. 1 (4th ed.). London: John Van Voorst. p. 414.
- ^ Committee of the British Ornithologists' Union (1915). A List of British Birds (2nd ed.). London: British Ornithologists' Union. p. 363.
- ^ Seebohm, Henry (1881). Catalogue of the Passeriformes or Perching Birds in the Collection of the British Museum. Cichlomorphae: Part II. Containing the family Turdidae (Warblers and Thrushes). Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Vol. 5. London: Trustees of the British Museum. pp. 10–14.
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