Curruca melanocephala
Silhouette: Alexis Lours · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The Sardinian warbler (Curruca melanocephala) is a common and widespread Sylviidae warbler from the Mediterranean region. Like most Curruca species, it has distinct male and female plumages. The adult male has a grey back, whitish underparts, black head, white throat and red eyes. Plumages are somewhat variable even in the same locality, with the intensity of a reddish hue on upper- and/or underside that varies from absent to (in some subspecies) pronounced. The female is mainly brown above and buff below, with a grey head. The Sardinian warbler's song is fast and rattling, and is very characteristic of the Mediterranean areas where this bird breeds.
The Sardinian warbler was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla melanocephala. Gmelin based his entry on a description by the Italian zoologist Francesco Cetti in his book Gli uccelli di Sardegna (The Birds of Sardinia) that was published in 1776. This was the second volume of his Storia naturale di Sardegna... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Picos de Europa National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reid Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sardinian Warbler sighting in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park on a given day, based on 456 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 74th most-seen of the 202 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Sardinian Warbler in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park on a given day, against about 10% in January to November, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sardinian Warbler sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
5th of 9
Of the 9 parks where we can rate Sardinian Warbler sightings, Sierra de Guadarrama National Park ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Monfragüe National Park (Spain, about 50%), Sierra Nevada National Park (Spain, about 50%) and Doñana National Park (Spain, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sardinian Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (456 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.
