Hippolais icterina
Silhouette: John Gerrard Keulemans · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The icterine warbler (Hippolais icterina) is an Old World warbler in the tree warbler genus Hippolais. It breeds in mainland Europe except the southwest, where it is replaced by its western counterpart, the melodious warbler. It is migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa.
A fairly big warbler with a large head, broad-based bill and long wings with a quite short square-ended tail. The upperparts are greyish-green and the underparts are uniformly light yellow. It has pale lores and a rather vague yellowish supercilium with a pale eye ring. Other distinguishing features include a panel on the folded wings formed by pale edges to the secondary feathers and tertiary feathers and the grey, sometimes bluish legs.
The icterine warbler is a bird of woodland rather than forest, preferring woodland edge or glades, favouring the crowns of well-spaced trees with tall undergrowth. It prefers broad-leafed trees, but may be found in conifers mixed with broad-leafed trees. It will use copses, orchards, parks, gardens, shelterbelts and tall hedges interspersed with trees.
The song is a fast nasal babbling incorporating mimicry of other species. The call... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 2 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 3 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 4 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 6 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 7 | Gauja National Park | 🇱🇻 Latvia | |
| 8 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 10 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 11 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 12 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 13 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 14 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Essen | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Saint Petersburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 3 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 4 | Minsk | 🇧🇾 Belarus | |
| 5 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 6 | Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 8 | Warsaw | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 9 | Budapest | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 10 | Kyiv | 🇺🇦 Ukraine |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Icterine Warbler sighting in Hwange National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 261st most-seen of the 308 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Icterine Warbler in Hwange National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April to January, the lowest months. Those are among Hwange National Park's wettest months, with about 100 mm of rain a month against almost none in July.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Icterine 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.
9th of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Icterine Warbler sightings, Hwange National Park ranks 9th at under 5%. The best odds are in Białowieża National Park (Poland, about 20%), Biebrza National Park (Poland, about 10%) and Fertő-Hanság National Park (Hungary, about 10%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Icterine Warbler that you can see in Hwange National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Fork-tailed Drongo (about 60%), White-browed Sparrow-Weaver (about 60%) and Magpie Shrike (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Icterine Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Hwange National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
