Garden warbler

    Sylvia borin

Castilian: Curruca mosquitera

Catalan: Tallarol gros

Gallego: Papuxa picafollas

Euskera: Baso-txinboa

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 and there are no data about risk factors in Spain; however, it could be affected by adverse conditions in its wintering areas in Africa.

Length / size: 14 cm / 20-25 cm

Identification: It is a medium-sized warbler with no distinguishing features. Its back is greyish-brown, its underparts are light, and it has a greyish collar around its neck that is somewhat notable.

Song: Beautiful and pleasant song made up of long, fluty and melodic verses. Its call is similar to that of the other warblers, a repetitive "check-check".

Diet: It feeds on all kinds of invertebrates; at the end of summer and in autumn it consumes a large amount of fruits (berries, elders, figs, etc.).

Reproduction: The breeding season begins in May and, normally, it is a monogamous species, with some exceptional cases of bigamy (one male with two females). The male begins to build several nests and the female will finish one of them, which consists of a small bowl of twigs and leaves covered with moss and feathers, and which is positioned at a low height among bushes or tall grass. Both parents incubate the eggs and care for the chicks.

HABITAT

It prefers wet forest environments with well-developed undergrowth, such as deciduous or wild pine forests.

DISTRIBUTION

In Spain: It is evenly distributed throughout the northern half of the peninsula, and is abundant in the northwest, the sub-Cantabrian region, the Pyrenees Mountains, and the Iberian System.

In Castile and León: It is widely distributed throughout all the provinces, although it is rare in the flat, low, dry regions of the inland area of the community.

Movements and migrations: It is a trans-Saharan migratory species, with wintering areas in sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to Ethiopia. In migration it appears in all parts of the peninsula and Balearic Islands. The prenuptial passage takes place between April and May, and the postnuptial between August and November.

POPULATION

In Spain: There is an estimated population of around half a million breeding pairs.

In Castile and León: