Sardinian Warbler - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by squidfish
Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife

Curruca melanocephala

Sylvia melanocephala

Identification

Female
Photo © by Donald Talbott
Elounda, Crete, Greece, May 2018

13·5 cm (5¼ in)
Male

• Grey back
• White underparts
• Black head
• White throat
• Red eyes
  

Female

• Brown upperparts
• Buff underparts
• Grey head

Distribution

Europe and Asia, Africa, Middle East
Eastern Europe: Scandinavia, Norway, Finland, The Netherlands, France, Corsica, Portugal, Spain, Ibiza, Mallorca, Canary Islands, Gran Canaria, Gomera, Tenerife, Extremadura, Gibraltar, Monaco, Switzerland, Italy, Sardinia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Crete, Lesvos, Malta, Bulgaria, Romania
Northern Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt
Western Africa Mauritania, Senegambia, Senegal, Niger, Chad
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Ethiopia
Middle East: Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq

Vagrants recorded in the British Isles.

Taxonomy

This is a polytypic species^[1] consisting of 3 subspecies.

Subspecies

Juvenile
Photo © by Donald Talbott
Elounda, Crete, Greece, May 2018

• C. m. melanocephala:

• Southern Europe, Canary Islands and Mediterranean islands, western Turkey and North Africa

• C. m. norrisae:

• Formerly Egypt (Faiyum region). Extinct

• C. m. momus:

• Syria, Israel, Jordan and Sinai Peninsula; winters to northeastern Africa

Four additional subspecies,leucogastra, carmichaellowi, pasiphae and valverdei are not accepted by all authorities^[1].

Habitat

Coastal scrub, salt marshes, heathland, arid scrubland, open woodland with gorse; riverside shrubs, olive, almond and orchid plantations. Parks and gardens.

Behaviour

Breeding

They builds their nest in low shrub or brambles, laying 3-6 eggs.

Diet

The diet consists mostly of arthropods, but they also eat a lot of fruit, particularly in the autumn and winter, with the addition of nectar too.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved May 2018)
4. BF Member observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Sardinian Warbler. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Sardinian_Warbler

External Links

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