Sylvia hortensis
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on John Cox's illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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
Recording0:04
France · 2025
© Denis Forzy · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0
Recording0:31
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Orphean Warbler sighting in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, based on 32 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 105th most-seen of the 153 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Orphean Warbler in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July 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.
3rd of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Orphean Warbler sightings, Sierra Nevada National Park ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Monfragüe National Park (Spain, about 10%) and Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (Spain, about 10%).
Same genus: Sylvia
The closest relatives of the Orphean Warbler that you can see in Sierra Nevada National Park (genus Sylvia, Sylvia Warblers) are Blackcap (about 60%), Dartford Warbler (about 10%) and Spectacled 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 Nevada National Park (32 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.
