Sylvia melanothorax
In 3 days <5%
The Cyprus warbler (Curruca melanothorax) is a warbler species in the family Sylviidae which breeds only on Cyprus. This small passerine bird is a short-distance migrant, and winters in Israel, Jordan and Egypt. The Cyprus warbler was first formally described in 1872 by the English clergyman, Bible scholar, traveller and ornithologist Henry Baker Tristram with its type locality given as En-Gedi in Palestine. It was formerly classified in the genus Sylvia but this genus is split into two distinctive clades, and most of the species formerly classified in Sylvia were move to the genus Curruca.
Like most Curruca species, it has distinct male and female plumages. The adult male is a small warbler with a grey back, black head, white malar streaks ("moustaches"), and underparts heavily streaked with black. The female is mainly grey above, with a greyer head, and whitish with only light spotting. The Cyprus warbler's song is fast and rattling, and is similar to that of the Sardinian warbler.
The Cyprus warbler is in the group of Curruca warblers centred on the Mediterranean and is most closely related to Tristram's warbler and Menetries's warbler, and less closely to the Eastern subalpine warbler, Sardinian warbler and Rüppell's warbler. Both these groups have a white malar area, but this may not form a clear streak in the latter group; above the white, the heads of males are uniformly dark.
This is a bird of dry open country, often on hill slopes, with bushes for nesting. The nest is built in low shrub or gorse, and 3–5 eggs are laid. Like most "warblers", it is insectivorous, but will also take berries. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jerusalem | 🇮🇱 Israel |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Cyprus Warbler sighting in Jerusalem on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 177th most-seen of the 192 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Cyprus Warbler in Jerusalem on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cyprus 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.
Only Jerusalem, in our data
Jerusalem is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Cyprus Warbler sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Sylvia
The closest relatives of the Cyprus Warbler that you can see in Jerusalem (genus Sylvia, Sylvia Warblers) are Blackcap (about 80%), Lesser Whitethroat (about 60%) and Whitethroat (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cyprus Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Jerusalem (7 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.
