Eastern Bonelli's Warbler

Eastern Bonelli's Warbler

Phylloscopus orientalis

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Tel Aviv

In 3 days ~10%

93 Verified sightings at Tel Aviv
April Best month

About the Eastern Bonelli's Warbler

The eastern Bonelli's warbler (Phylloscopus orientalis), sometimes known as the Balkan warbler, is a warbler in the leaf warbler genus Phylloscopus. It was formerly regarded as the eastern subspecies of a wider "Bonelli's warbler" species, but as a result of modern taxonomic developments, they are now usually considered to be two species:

Western Bonelli's warbler, Phylloscopus bonelli, which breeds in southwest Europe and north Africa Eastern Bonelli's warbler, Phylloscopus orientalis, which breeds in southeast Europe and Asia Minor The breeding ranges of the two species do not overlap; while their appearance and songs are very similar, the calls are completely different (see below). They also show marked difference in mtDNA sequence.

The species is migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a rare vagrant in Northern Europe. Eastern Bonelli's warbler is a small passerine bird, found in forest and woodland. Four to six eggs are laid in a nest on the ground. Like most warblers, eastern Bonelli's is insectivorous.

It is a small warbler. The adult has a plain grey-green back, green-toned rump and wings and whitish underparts. The bill is small and pointed and the legs brown. The sexes are identical, as with most warblers. The eastern Bonelli's warbler lacks the browner tinge to the upperparts that the western Bonelli's warbler has; it sometimes has a greenish tinge instead. The song is a fast monotone trill, only slightly different from western Bonelli's, and also some similarity to the wood warbler. The call of the eastern Bonelli's warbler is a hard chup, reminiscent of a crossbill or a house sparrow, and completely different from the disyllabic hu-it of the western Bonelli's warbler.

The genus name Phylloscopus is from Ancient Greek phullon, "leaf", and skopos, "seeker" (from skopeo, "to watch"). The specific orientalis is Latin for "eastern". The English name for this bird commemorates the Italian ornithologist Franco Andrea Bonelli. Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:05

Turkey · 2026

© Kasper Wieck · XC1097009 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:11

Sweden · 2025

© Max Karlsson · XC1082049 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Song0:52

Sweden · 2025

© Jonas Bonnedahl · XC1002500 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability

More parks will be added in future updates.

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Jerusalem 🇮🇱 Israel
~10%
2 Ramallah 🇵🇸 Palestine
~10%
3 Tel Aviv 🇮🇱 Israel
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing an Eastern Bonelli's Warbler in Tel Aviv?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Bonelli's Warbler sighting in Tel Aviv on a given day, based on 93 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 108th most-seen of the 232 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see an Eastern Bonelli's Warbler in Tel Aviv?

March and April

In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Bonelli's Warbler in Tel Aviv on a given day, against under 5% in May to February, the lowest months.

Is Tel Aviv the best place to see an Eastern Bonelli's Warbler?

3rd of 3

Of the 3 cities where we can rate Eastern Bonelli's Warbler sightings, Tel Aviv ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Jerusalem (Israel, about 10%) and Ramallah (Palestine, about 10%).

Which relatives of the Eastern Bonelli's Warbler live in Tel Aviv?

Same genus: Phylloscopus

The closest relatives of the Eastern Bonelli's Warbler that you can see in Tel Aviv (genus Phylloscopus, Leaf Warblers) are Common Chiffchaff (about 30%) and Willow Warbler (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Eastern Bonelli's Warbler sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Eastern Bonelli's Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Tel Aviv (93 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.

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