Bonelli's warbler

    Phylloscopus bonelli

Castilian: Mosquitero papialbo

Catalan: Mosquiter pàl·lid

Gallego: Picafollas de Bonelli

Euskera: Txio lepazuria

CLASIFICACIÓN:

Orden: Passeriformes

Family: Sylviidae

Migratory status: Summer resident

CONSERVATION STATUS:

On the National List of Threatened Species, it appears in the “Of Special Interest” category. In the 2004 edition of the Red Book of Spanish Birds (Libro Rojo de las Aves de España) it is listed as “Not Evaluated”.

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THREATS

It is not threatened because of the size of its population, its wide distribution and its positive growth trend.

Length / size: 11-12 cm / 16-19 cm

Identification: Warbler with a pudgy body and a thin bill. Its wings, back and the outer parts of its tail are greenish, in contrast with the rest of its whitish body.

Song: It is a brief, loud trill of just one note that it executes rapidly. It call is a loud whistle, "too-ooee".

Diet: It feeds on invertebrates, especially forest insects.

Reproduction: The breeding period begins in May. The female looks for a small hole in the ground or in a slope, which she covers with grass and moss and which is protected by vegetation. The female also is responsible for incubation but both parents feed the chicks.

HABITAT

It occupies matures forests, as well as young or regenerating ones, and it prefers deciduous forests. It is found from sea level up to an elevation of 2,000 metres.

DISTRIBUTION

In Spain: It is evenly distributed throughout the northern half of the peninsula, with more specific concentrations in Galicia, the Cantabrian coast, and the Ebro Valley. In the southern half, it is limited to the mountains of Levante and the Baetic and Prebaetic Systems.

In Castile and León: It is distributed throughout all the provinces, with the largest populations in León, northern Palencia, southwestern Burgos, and northwestern Zamora.

Movements and migrations: It is a trans-Saharan migratory species, with wintering areas in tropical Africa. The prenuptial passage takes place between March and May, and the postnuptial between July and September.

POPULATION

In Spain: There is an estimated population of 1.1 to 2.7 million breeding pairs.

In Castile and León: