Sylvia atricapilla
Silhouette: Alexis Lours · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) is a bird usually known simply as the blackcap. It is a common and widespread warbler. It has mainly olive-grey upperparts and pale grey underparts, and differences across the five subspecies are small. Both sexes have a neat coloured cap to the head, black in the male and reddish-brown in the female. The male's typical song is a rich musical warbling, often ending in a loud high-pitched crescendo, but a simpler song is given in some isolated areas, such as valleys in the Alps. The blackcap's closest relative is the garden warbler, which looks quite different but has a similar song.
The blackcap breeds in much of Europe, western Asia and northwestern Africa, and its preferred habitat is mature deciduous woodland. The male holds a territory when breeding, which is defended against garden warblers as well as other blackcaps. The nest is a neat cup, built low in brambles or scrub, and the clutch is typically 4–6 mainly buff eggs, which hatch in about 11 days. The chicks fledge in 11–12 days, but are cared for by both adults for some time after leaving the nest. The blackcap is a partial migrant; birds from the colder areas of its range winter in scrub or trees in northwestern Europe, around the Mediterranean and in tropical Africa. Some birds from Germany and western continental Europe have adapted to spending the winter in gardens in Great Britain and Ireland. Insects are the main food in the breeding season, but, for the rest of the year, blackcaps survive primarily on small fruit. Garden birds also eat bread, fat and peanuts in winter.
Despite extensive hunting in Mediterranean countries and the natural hazards of predation and disease, the blackcap has been extending its range for several decades, and is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as least concern. Its rich and varied song has led to it being described as the "mock nightingale" and it has featured in literature, films and music. In Messiaen's opera Saint François d'Assise, the saint is represented by themes based on the blackcap's song.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alpenzoo Innsbruck | 🇦🇹 Austria |
Very likely
About 80% of wildlife watchers report a Blackcap sighting in Pico Island Natural Park (Azores) on a given day, based on 1,150 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 5th most-seen of the 53 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, March, June–July and October–November
In those months about 90% of wildlife watchers report a Blackcap in Pico Island Natural Park (Azores) on a given day, against about 70% in September, the lowest month.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blackcap sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 42 parks where we can rate Blackcap sightings, Pico Island Natural Park (Azores) has the highest daily chance: about 80%. Next come Białowieża National Park (Poland, about 60%) and Corsica Regional Natural Park (Parc naturel régional de Corse) (France, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Blackcap that you can see in Pico Island Natural Park (Azores) (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Eurasian Blackbird (over 90%), Island Canary (about 90%) and Azores Chaffinch (about 90%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blackcap is recorded against all the birds logged in Pico Island Natural Park (Azores) (1,150 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.
