Appearance:

Fairly large warbler with long tail, giving the whole bird an elongated look. Tertials, secondaries and coverts with rufous fringes in contrast to greyish brown back. Underparts pale with buff flanks. Outer tail feathers white. Steep forehead and white throat. Males with slate grey head.

Sound:

Variable. Usually recognized by fairly concise phrase, usually with three ascending and descending parts. Often ends with more indistinct mimicry, or subsong. May omit characteristic phrase and sing more cryptic for periods of time, and may be more difficult to identify. Warning call a harsh, drawn "weeet", usually with accented ending, sometimes rising abruptly in pitch.

Alarm call, song:

Distribution:

Xeno-canto: map

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Appearance:

Small and slender Sylvia about the size of Lesser Whitethroat. The short wings, steep forehead and striking long tail alone is often enough for positive id. Upperparts dark slate grey, and underparts of male vinous red with finely white spotted throat. Female less brightly coloured with more brownish tones and less red underparts. Immature duller still, with brownish underparts rather than red. Yellow base of lower mandible in all ages and sex. Lacks the white moustache-stripe of Subalpine Warbler. Tail frequently held raised. Skulking behaviour. Prefers scrubs/Gorse and is usually only glimpsed when moving low from bush to bush, or when singing from more exposed perch.

Sound:

Contact call a diagnostic, very nasal "chirr", quite different from other Sylvia, and used freely. Warning call a har "tuc". Song similar to Sardinian Warbler, but usually identifiable by frequently interspersed contact calls. Phrases are quite short, and pauses are as long or longer than the actual phrases. Each phrase typicall starts and ends with a more tonal segment than the regular chattering.

Song (with contact call):

Distribution:

Xeno-canto: map

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

CC-Photo:Marc Kolkman, Licence,Link.

CC-sound:Peter Boesman, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:chausinho, Licence,Link.

CC-Photo:Viskens Michel, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Ximo Galarza i Planes, Licence,Link.