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Icterine Warbler

Icterine Warbler

Hippolais icterina

Identify the Icterine Warbler by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Icterine Warbler is a fairly large, big-headed tree warbler that breeds across much of mainland Europe and into western Siberia, replaced in the south-west by the Melodious Warbler. It sings a loud, fast, varied song full of mimicry from leafy tree crowns. Greyish-green above and pale yellow below, it is a long-distance migrant that winters in southern Africa and returns late in spring.

Did you know?

  • Its song strings together imitations of many other birds.
  • Birders often nickname it “icky”.

Voice

Song
Call

About the species

Identification

A medium-sized warbler with pale lemon-yellow underparts and an olive-green back. A pale yellowish wing panel formed by the tertial edges shows on the wing, and the primary projection is long. The bill is strong, broad-based and pale orange below; the head is rather flat-crowned. The sexes look alike; in autumn the yellow can be faded, and young birds have little yellow. The song is varied with mimicry; the call is a fast, sharp “dederoid”.

Family

Acrocephalidae

Size

Small (sparrow)

Colours

yellow, green, brown, white

About the habitat

Sunny, leafy places with tall shrubs and deciduous trees – woodland edges and glades, parks, gardens, orchards, shelterbelts and riverside groves.

Diet

Mainly insects and other small invertebrates such as flies, beetles, caterpillars and spiders; berries and soft fruit in late summer.

Behaviour

Active and restless in foliage, alternating leaf-gleaning with short sallies to catch flying insects. The male sings a loud, rapid, nasal and varied song with much mimicry from exposed perches. Solitary and territorial on both breeding and wintering grounds. It nests in a fork of a tree or bush, laying four to six eggs.

Sources

Photo: Eva Uzdilova, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6320245436

Sound: Christopher Kullenberg, XC724492, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/724492

Sound: Jochem verweij, XC791824, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/791824

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icterine_warbler

See also