Phylloscopus sibilatrix
The Wood Warbler (*Phylloscopus sibilatrix*) is a small, delicate passerine bird, a member of the Old World leaf warbler family (Phylloscopidae), notable for its vibrant plumage and distinctive song. Measuring typically 11-12.5 cm (4.3-4.9 in) in length with a wingspan of 19-24 cm (7.5-9.4 in) and weighing 8-13 g (0.28-0.46 oz), it sports bright olive-green upperparts and a striking, uniformly yellow throat and breast that fades to a clean white belly. Key identification features include a pr...
Prefers mature deciduous or mixed woodlands with an open canopy and sparse undergrowth; occasionally found in coniferous forests at low to mid-elevations.
Primarily consumes small insects and their larvae, including caterpillars, beetles, flies, and aphids, along with spiders. Occasionally supplements its diet with small berries in late summer and autumn.
Wood Warblers are highly active, diurnal insectivores. They typically forage by gleaning insects from the underside of leaves and twigs in the mid-to-upper canopy, often performing short hovering sallies or flycatching. Males establish and vigorously defend territories with their characteristic s...
The Wood Warbler breeds across most of temperate Europe, stretching from Britain, northern Spain, and France eastward through Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, European Russia, and into western Siberia as far as the Ural Mountains. Its northern breeding limit extends into southern Norway, ...
Least Concern
- The Wood Warbler's scientific name, *sibilatrix*, is Latin for 'whistler', a direct reference to its distinctive, trilling song. - Its song is often described as sounding like a coin or ball-bearing spinning on a plate, starting slowly and gaining speed and volume. - Despite being an arboreal s...