From Opus

Photo by kuwaity
national park , sabiya, Kuwait, September 2004

Sylvia crassirostris

[edit] Identification

• Long pointed bill
• Black legs
  

Adult males

• Plain grey back and whitish underparts
• dark grey head
• Black eye mask
• White throat
• Iris may be white but is dark in most individuals
  

Photo by ammadoux
Desert tree- Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March, 2011

Females and immatures

• Brownish-grey back
• Paler head and buff underparts
• Iris is dark in many if not most

[edit] Similar species

More varied song, pinker belly, and sometimes more strongly marked hood than the very similar Western Orphean Warbler.

[edit] Distribution

Breeds in the eastern Mediterranean (from Slovenia east) through the Balkan peninsula to Turkey, the Middle East, Turkmenistan, Iran, Pakistan to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

[edit] Taxonomy

Three subspecies recognized^[1]:

• S. c. jerdoni in Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
• S. c. balchanica in Iran, Turkmenistan and Transcaspia
• S. c. crassirostris in the E Mediterranean, Turkey and the Middle East

This species was formerly lumped with Western Orphean Warbler to Orphean Warbler.

[edit] Habitat

Open deciduous woodland.

[edit] Behaviour

A Migratory species.

[edit] Breeding

The nest is build in a tree or bush; the clutch consists of 4-6 eggs.

[edit] Diet

The diet consists mostly of insects.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Birdforum thread discussing some aspects of id of Eastern Orphean Warbler
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links