The western Bonelli's warbler (''Phylloscopus bonelli'') is a

warbler Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous. Sylvioid warblers Th ...

in the

leaf warbler Leaf warblers are small insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Phylloscopus''. Leaf warblers were formerly included in the Old World warbler family but are now considered to belong to the family Phylloscopidae, introduced in 20 ...

genus '' Phylloscopus''. It was formerly regarded as the western subspecies of a wider "Bonelli's warbler" species, but as a result of modern taxonomic developments, they are now usually considered to be two species: * Western Bonelli's warbler, ''Phylloscopus bonelli'', which breeds in southwest

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 ...

and north

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 ...

Eastern Bonelli's warbler The Eastern Bonelli's warbler (''Phylloscopus orientalis''), sometimes known as Balkan warbler, is a "warbler" in the leaf warbler genus ''Phylloscopus''. It was formerly regarded as the eastern subspecies of a wider "Bonelli's warbler" species, ...

, ''Phylloscopus orientalis'', which breeds in southeast

and

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

The breeding ranges of the two species do not overlap; while their appearance and songs are very similar, the calls are completely different (see below). They also show marked difference in

mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA ...

sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is calle ...

. The species is migratory, wintering in sub- Saharan

. It is a rare vagrant in Northern Europe. The genus name ''Phylloscopus'' 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 ...

''phullon'', "leaf", and ''skopos'', "seeker" (from ''skopeo'', "to watch"). The English name and the specific ''bonelli'' are for the Italian ornithologist

Franco Andrea Bonelli Franco Andrea Bonelli (10 November 1784 – 18 November 1830) was an Italian ornithologist, entomologist and collector. Life Very little is known about the early life of Bonelli: he was born in Cuneo and was interested from an early age in the ...

Description

Western Bonelli's Warbler - Aosta Valley - Italy S4E5346 (19079885220)

Western Bonelli's warbler is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

, found in forest and woodland. Four to six eggs are laid in a nest on the ground. Like most warblers, western Bonelli's warbler is insectivorous. The adult has a plain grey-green back, green-toned rump and wings and whitish underparts. The bill is small and pointed and the legs brown. The sexes are identical, as with most warblers. The western Bonelli's warbler has a browner tinge to the upperparts than the eastern Bonelli's warbler; the latter sometimes has a greenish tinge instead. The song is a fast monotone trill, only slightly different from eastern Bonelli's, and also with some similarity to the

wood warbler The wood warbler (''Phylloscopus sibilatrix'') is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe, and just into the extreme west of Asian Russia in the southern Ural Mountains. This warbler is stro ...

. The call of the western Bonelli's warbler is a disyllabic ''hu-it'', differing from that of the eastern Bonelli's warbler which is a hard ''chup'', reminiscent of a

crossbill The crossbill is a genus, ''Loxia'', of birds in the finch family (Fringillidae), with six species. These birds are characterised by the mandibles with crossed tips, which gives the group its English name. Adult males tend to be red or orange in ...

or a house sparrow.Helb, H.-W.; Bergmann, H.-H. & Martens, J. (1982): Acoustic differences between populations of western and eastern Bonelli's Warblers (''Phylloscopus bonelli'', Sylviidae). ''Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences'' 38(3): 356–357.

References

External links

Ageing and sexing (PDF; 2.5 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
{{Taxonbar, from=Q752489 western Bonelli's warbler Birds of Europe Birds of Southern Europe Birds of North Africa Birds of West Africa western Bonelli's warbler western Bonelli's warbler