Phylloscopus trochilus
Silhouette: Margot Michaud · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strongly migratory, with almost all of the population wintering in sub-Saharan Africa.
It is a bird of open woodlands with trees and ground cover for nesting, including most importantly birch, alder, and willow habitats. The nest is usually built in close contact with the ground, often in low vegetation. Like most Old World warblers (Sylviidae), this small passerine is insectivorous. In northern Europe, it is one of the first warblers to return in the spring, though later than the closely related chiffchaff. In spite of its small size, the willow warbler performs one of the longest migrations of any animal.
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... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nizhny Novgorod | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 3 | Jerusalem | 🇮🇱 Israel | |
| 4 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 5 | Saint Petersburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 6 | Tehran | 🇮🇷 Iran | |
| 7 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 8 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | Kazan | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 10 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Willow Warbler sighting in Helsinki on a given day, based on 1,786 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 41st most-seen of the 233 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Willow Warbler in Helsinki on a given day, against under 5% in October to March, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Willow Warbler sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 80 cities where we can rate Willow Warbler sightings, Helsinki ranks 2nd at about 30%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Nizhny Novgorod (Russia, about 30%).
Same genus: Phylloscopus
The closest relatives of the Willow Warbler that you can see in Helsinki (genus Phylloscopus, Leaf Warblers) are Common Chiffchaff (about 10%) and Wood Warbler (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Willow Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Helsinki (1,786 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
