Willow warbler

Taxonomy

The willow warbler was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Motacilla trochilus. The willow warbler is now one of around 80 species placed in the genus Phylloscopus that was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek grc meaning "leaf" and grc meaning "seeker" (from grc, "to watch"). The specific epithet is Ancient Greek meaning "wren".

Before the English name was standardised to willow warbler by William Yarrell in 1843, it was merged with the chiffchaff and wood warbler as the "willow wren".

Three subspecies are recognised. There is a clinal reduction in green and yellow plumage tones from west to east, with central birds browner and easternmost birds predominantly greyish:

• P. t. trochilus (Linnaeus, 1758). Breeds Europe (from the Pyrenees and Alps northward) except northern Scandinavia, winters west Africa.
• P. t. acredula (Linnaeus, 1758). Breeds northern Scandinavia east to western Siberia, winters central Africa.
• P. t. yakutensis (Ticehurst, 1935). Breeds eastern Siberia, winters eastern and southern Africa.

Description

The willow warbler is a typical leaf warbler in appearance, 11-12.5 cm long and 7-15 g weight. It is greenish brown above and off-white to yellowish below; the wings are plain greenish-brown with no wingbars. Juveniles are yellower below than adults. It is very similar to the chiffchaff, but non-singing birds can be distinguished from that species by their paler pinkish-yellow legs (dark brown to blackish in chiffchaff), longer paler bill, more elegant shape and longer primary projection (wingtip). Its song is a simple repetitive descending whistle, while the contact call is a disyllabic 'hoo-eet', distinct from the more monosyllabic 'hweet' of chiffchaffs.

Behaviour

All populations are highly migratory, with the subspecies P. t. yakutensis migrating up to 12000 km from eastern Siberia to southern Africa along the Asian–East African Flyway, one of the longest migrations of any for a bird of its size. Approximate timings are:

• October to March: wintering in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Mid-March to mid-May: migrates and arrives in the breeding range.
• Late April to August: breeding season, usually only one brood but rarely two.
• August to October: migrates back to Africa.

They are very rare vagrants to Alaska, with sightings in St. Lawrence Island.

Status and conservation

Willow warblers prefer young, open, scrubby woodland with small trees, including human-altered habitats such as coppice and young plantations up to 10–20 years old. High amounts of birch, alder and willow, with good lichen amounts, and water features (e.g. streams), fields with large amounts of bracken and mosses, and patches of low bramble (for nest cover) are preferred, but it will use a wide range of other species, including young or open coniferous forests. Incorporating woodland ride edge thickets of varying structure and height is beneficial. They prefer damp woodland areas. Thicket forming shrubs like blackthorn provide pockets of habitat. Deer browsing can degrade the required low cover.

The highest population densities are found in Scandinavia (where it is the commonest bird of any), with up to 1,100 pairs per square kilometre, and a total population in Sweden and Finland of 24 million pairs. Lower densities occur further east, with peak densities of 27 pairs per square kilometre in central Siberia. Even lower densities are found on the southern edge of the breeding range, with just 9 pairs per square kilometre in Switzerland, and a total of just 100 pairs in the whole of northern Spain.

In England this species has on average decreased in population by 70% within the last 25 years, with the biggest declines in the southeast. In Scotland some increases have occurred. The Forestry Commission offers grants under a scheme called England's Woodland Improvement Grant (EWIG); as does Natural England's Environmental Stewardship Scheme.

References

References

1. BirdLife International.. (2024). "''Phylloscopus trochilus''".
2. (2006). "Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 11". Lynx Edicions.
3. Baker, Kevin. (1997). "Warblers of Europe, Asia and North Africa (Helm Identification Guides)". Christopher Helm.
4. Linnaeus, Carl. (1758). "Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis". Laurentii Salvii.
5. Boie, Friedrich. (1826). "Generalübersicht der ornithologischen Ordnungen Familien und Gattugen". Isis von Oken.
6. (January 2022). "Bushtits, leaf warblers, reed warblers". International Ornithologists' Union.
7. Jobling, James A.. (2010). "The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names". Christopher Helm.
8. Yarrell, William. (1843). "A History of British Birds". John Van Voorst.
9. Lockwood, William Burley. (1993). "The Oxford Dictionary of British Bird Names". Oxford University Press.
10. Snow, D. W.. (1998). "The Birds of the Western Palearctic". Oxford University Press.
11. "Ageing and sexing (PDF) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta".
12. (2014). "Rare Birds of North America". Princeton University Press.
13. RSPB Woodland Management For Birds – Willow Warbler