The icterine warbler (''Hippolais icterina'') is an
Old World warbler
Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the ci ...
in the
tree warbler
Tree warblers are medium-sized warblers in the marsh- and tree-warbler family Acrocephalidae. They are found in Europe, Africa and western Asia. Until recently, they were all classified in the single genus '' Hippolais''.
These warblers are as ...
genus ''Hippolais''. It breeds in mainland
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
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-
Saharan
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
.
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 with a pale eye ring. Other distinguishing features include a panel on the folded wings formed by pale edges to the
secondary feathers and
tertiary 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 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
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
and Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
through most of northern and eastern Europe, south as far as the northern Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
mountains and Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
mountains eastwards in a narrowing band to the River Ob
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...
.[ It has bred in ]Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
recently but it is normally a passage migrant in Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
and Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
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
Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
are laid in a nest in a tree or a bush.[
]
Etymology
The genus name ''Hippolais'' is from Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
''hupolais'', as misspelt by Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
. It referred to a small bird mentioned by Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
and others and may be onomatopoeic or derived from ''hupo'',"under", and ''laas'', "stone". The specific ''icterina'' is Greek for "jaundice-yellow". ''Icterus'' was an old word for jaundice, and also referred to a yellowish-green bird, perhaps the golden oriole
The Eurasian golden oriole (''Oriolus oriolus'') also called the common golden oriole, is the only member of the Old World oriole family of passerine birds breeding in Northern Hemisphere temperate regions. It is a summer migrant in Europe and P ...
, the sight of which was believed to cure the disease. It is colloquially referred to by birder
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...
s 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
Birds of Europe
icterine warbler
icterine warbler