Sylvia hortensis
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on John Cox's illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The western Orphean warbler (Curruca hortensis) is an Old World warbler of the genus Curruca. This species occurs in summer around the Mediterranean, through western Europe and extending into northwest Africa. It is migratory, wintering in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is a rare vagrant to northern and north-western Europe.
The English name refers to the mythical musician and singer Orpheus. The specific hortensis is Latin for "of a garden", from hortus, "garden". Two subspecies are unequivocally accepted, but they are now usually considered separate species.
The western Orphean warbler is probably most closely allied to the Arabian warbler, as well as the brown warbler and Yemen warblers which are sometimes placed in Parisoma. They together with the lesser whitethroat group seem to form a distinct clade of typical warblers. The species therein do not appear much alike at first glance, but they all have prominent white throats, lack rufous wing-patches, and usually having dark sides to the head.
At 15–16 centimetres (6–6+1⁄4 in) in length – somewhat larger than a blackcap – this is one of the largest species of typical warblers. The adult males... Wikipedia →
Recording0:13
Spain · 2024
© Daniel Gaona Carrilero · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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France · 2025
© Denis Forzy · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0
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Morocco · 2025
© Ila France · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Orphean Warbler sighting in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park on a given day, based on 246 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 101st most-seen of the 202 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Orphean Warbler in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to April, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Orphean Warbler sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Orphean Warbler sightings, Sierra de Guadarrama National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Monfragüe National Park (Spain, about 10%).
Same genus: Sylvia
The closest relatives of the Orphean Warbler that you can see in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (genus Sylvia, Sylvia Warblers) are Blackcap (about 30%), Whitethroat (about 10%) and Dartford Warbler (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Orphean Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (246 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.
