Barred Warbler

Barred Warbler

Sylvia nisoria

Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on John Cox's illustration · PhyloPic

Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Tsavo West National Park

In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%

63 Verified sightings at Tsavo West National Park From 2019 to 2026
491 In all 10 parks
December Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Barred Warbler

The barred warbler (Curruca nisoria) is a species of bird in the warbler family Sylviidae which breeds across temperate regions of central and eastern Europe and western and central Asia. This passerine bird is strongly migratory, and winters in tropical eastern Africa.

It is the largest Curruca warbler, 15.5–17 cm in length and weighing 22–36 g, mainly grey above and whitish below. Adult males are dark grey above with white tips on the wing coverts and tail feathers, and heavily barred below. The female is similar but slightly paler and has only light barring. Young birds are buffy grey-brown above, pale buff below, and have very little barring, with few obvious distinctive features; they can easily be confused with garden warblers, differing in the slight barring on the tail coverts and the pale fringes on the wing feathers, and their slightly larger size. The eye has a yellow iris in adults, dark in immatures; the bill is blackish with a paler base, and the legs stout, grey-brown.

Within the genus Curruca it is highly distinctive; the barred underside is shared only with the Cyprus warbler, which has black barring and an entirely different overall colour pattern. The... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Recording0:48

Czechia · 2024

© Martina Kišelová · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0

Recording0:53

Russia · 2025

© Natalia Melnikova · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0

Recording0:24

Austria · 2024

© Michael Bierbaumer · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park 🇲🇳 Mongolia
~20%
2 Białowieża National Park 🇵🇱 Poland
~10%
3 Fertő-Hanság National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
~10%
4 Tsavo West National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
~10%
5 Biebrza National Park 🇵🇱 Poland
<5%
6 Samburu National Reserve 🇰🇪 Kenya
<5%
7 Hortobágy National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
<5%
8 Kiskunság National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
<5%
9 Tsavo East National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
<5%
10 Wadden Sea National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Abu Dhabi 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
~10%
2 Jerusalem 🇮🇱 Israel
~10%
3 Doha 🇶🇦 Qatar
~10%
4 Kuwait City 🇰🇼 Kuwait
~10%
5 Almaty 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
~10%
6 Istanbul 🇹🇷 Turkey
~10%
7 Ankara 🇹🇷 Turkey
<5%
8 Beirut 🇱🇧 Lebanon
<5%
9 Warsaw 🇵🇱 Poland
<5%
10 Antalya 🇹🇷 Turkey
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Barred Warbler in Tsavo West National Park?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Barred Warbler sighting in Tsavo West National Park on a given day, based on 63 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 190th most-seen of the 380 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Barred Warbler in Tsavo West National Park?

December

In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Barred Warbler in Tsavo West National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April to October, the lowest months. That is one of Tsavo West National Park's wettest months, with about 95 mm of rain against 5 mm in July.

What time of day is best to see a Barred Warbler?

Between 8 and 11 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Barred 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.

Which relatives of the Barred Warbler live in Tsavo West National Park?

Same genus: Sylvia

The closest relatives of the Barred Warbler that you can see in Tsavo West National Park (genus Sylvia, Sylvia Warblers) are Whitethroat (about 20%), Banded Warbler (about 10%) and Garden Warbler (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Barred Warbler sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Barred Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Tsavo West National Park (63 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.

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