The icterine warbler (''Hippolais icterina'') is an
Old World warbler in the
tree warbler genus ''Hippolais''. It breeds in mainland
Europe except the southwest, where it is replaced by its western counterpart, the
melodious warbler
The melodious warbler (''Hippolais polyglotta'') is an Old World warbler in the tree warbler genus ''Hippolais''. It breeds in southwest Europe and northwest Africa. It is migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. This small passerine bird is ...
. It is
migratory, wintering in sub-
Sahara
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Africa.
Description
A fairly big warbler with a large head, broad-based bill and long wings with a quite short square-ended tail. The upperparts are greyish-green and the underparts are uniformly light yellow. It has pale
lores and a rather vague yellowish
supercilium
The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...
with a pale eye ring. Other distinguishing features include a panel on the folded wings formed by pale edges to the
secondary feathers
Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...
and
tertiary feathers and the grey, sometimes bluish legs.
Habitat
The icterine warbler is a bird of woodland rather than forest, preferring woodland edge or glades, favouring the crowns of well-spaced trees with tall undergrowth. It prefers broad-leafed trees, but may be found in conifers mixed with broad-leafed trees. It will use copses, orchards, parks, gardens, shelterbelts and tall hedges interspersed with trees.
Voice
The song is a fast nasal babbling incorporating mimicry of other species. The call is described as ''teck'' or ''tec, tec, tec''.
[
]
Distribution and movements
The icterine warbler has the most northerly and widespread distribution of the four ''Hippolais
''Hippolais'' is a genus of tree warbler in the family Acrocephalidae. It is sometimes associated with the genus '' Iduna''. The genus name ''Hippolais'' is from Ancient Greek ''hupolais'', as misspelt by Linnaeus. It referred to a small bird men ...
'' species; its breeding range extends from northern France and Norway through most of northern and eastern Europe, south as far as the northern Balkans mountains and Crimea mountains eastwards in a narrowing band to the River Ob.[ It has bred in Scotland recently but it is normally a passage migrant in Great Britain and Ireland.]
It is a migratory species and the entire population winters in sub-Saharan Africa, mainly south of the equator. It begins its southward migration from late July, peaking in early August and then returns to the breeding range in late May.[
]
Biology
The icterine warbler is mainly insectivorous but will feed on fruit in late summer. It forages among the foliage taking insects either on the leaves or fluttering, and it will flycatch. In general it is clumsier than the smaller but superficially similar '' Phylloscopus'' warblers. Rather solitary, it is territorial on both the breeding and wintering grounds. Four to six eggs are laid in a nest in a tree or a bush.[
]
Etymology
The genus name ''Hippolais'' is from Ancient Greek ''hupolais'', as misspelt by Linnaeus. It referred to a small bird mentioned by Aristotle and others and may be onomatopoeic
Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...
or derived from ''hupo'',"under", and ''laas'', "stone". The specific ''icterina'' is Greek for "jaundice-yellow". ''Icterus'' was an old word for jaundice
Jaundice, also known as icterus, is a yellowish or greenish pigmentation of the skin and sclera due to high bilirubin levels. Jaundice in adults is typically a sign indicating the presence of underlying diseases involving abnormal heme meta ...
, and also referred to a yellowish-green bird, perhaps the golden oriole, the sight of which was believed to cure the disease. It is colloquially referred to by birders as ''icky''.
The scientific name was also spelt as ''Hypolais icterina''.[See e.g. ]
References
External links
Icterine warbler
from BirdGuides
* Icterine warbler/
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q27674
icterine warbler
The icterine warbler (''Hippolais icterina'') is an Old World warbler in the tree warbler genus ''Hippolais''. It breeds in mainland Europe except the southwest, where it is replaced by its western counterpart, the melodious warbler. It is migr ...
Birds of Europe
icterine warbler
The icterine warbler (''Hippolais icterina'') is an Old World warbler in the tree warbler genus ''Hippolais''. It breeds in mainland Europe except the southwest, where it is replaced by its western counterpart, the melodious warbler. It is migr ...
icterine warbler
The icterine warbler (''Hippolais icterina'') is an Old World warbler in the tree warbler genus ''Hippolais''. It breeds in mainland Europe except the southwest, where it is replaced by its western counterpart, the melodious warbler. It is migr ...