Western Orphean warbler
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The western Orphean warbler (Curruca hortensis) is an Old World warbler of the genus Curruca. This species occurs in summer around the Mediterranean, through western Europe and extending into northwest Africa. It is migratory, wintering in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is a rare vagrant to northern and north-western Europe.
Taxonomy and etymology
The English name refers to the mythical musician and singer Orpheus. The specific hortensis is Latin for "of a garden", from hortus, "garden".<ref name=job>Template:Cite book</ref>
Two subspecies are unequivocally accepted,<ref>Snow, David W.; Perrins, Christopher M.; Doherty, Paul & Cramp, Stanley (1998). The complete birds of the western Palaearctic on CD-ROM. Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.</ref> but they are now usually considered separate species.<ref name=Helbig>Helbig, A. J. (2001). Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus Sylvia, in: Shirihai, Hadoram: Sylvia warblers: 24-29. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. Template:ISBN</ref><ref name=Jonsson>Jønsson, Knud A. & Fjeldså, Jon (2006). A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri). Zool. Scripta 35(2): 149–186. {{#invoke:CS1 identifiers|main|_template=doi}} (HTML abstract).</ref>
The western Orphean warbler is probably most closely allied to the Arabian warbler, as well as the brown warbler and Yemen warblers which are sometimes placed in Parisoma. They together with the lesser whitethroat group seem to form a distinct clade of typical warblers. The species therein do not appear much alike at first glance, but they all have prominent white throats, lack rufous wing-patches, and usually having dark sides to the head.<ref name=Helbig/><ref name=Jonsson/>
Description
At Template:Convert in length – somewhat larger than a blackcap – this is one of the largest species of typical warblers. The adult males have a plain grey back and whitish underparts. The bill is long and pointed and the legs black. The male has a dark grey head, black eye mask, and white throat. The iris is white. Females and immatures have a paler head and buff underparts; their grey back has a brownish tinge. The iris is dark in young birds. The song is a series of warbling Template:Not a typo and scolding notes.
Behaviour and ecology
These small passerine birds are found in open deciduous woodland. 4-6 eggs are laid in a nest in a bush or tree. Like most "warblers", the western Orphean warbler is an insectivore.
References
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External links
- Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1913 Webster's Dictionary
- Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1913 Webster's Dictionary without a title parameter
- Curruca
- Birds of Southern Europe
- Birds of North Africa
- Wintering birds of Africa
- Birds described in 1789
- Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin