The Cyprus warbler (''Curruca melanothorax'') is a
typical warbler which
breeds only on
Cyprus.
This small
passerine bird is a short-distance
migrant, and winters in
Israel,
Jordan and
Egypt.
Like most ''Curruca''
species, it has distinct male and female
plumage
Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...
s. The adult male is a small typical warbler with a grey back, black head, white malar streaks ("moustaches"), and, uniquely among typical warblers, underparts heavily streaked with black. The female is mainly grey above, with a greyer head, and whitish with only light spotting. The Cyprus warbler's song is fast and rattling, and is similar to that of the
Sardinian warbler.
Together with
Rüppell's warbler
Rüppell's warbler (''Curruca ruppeli'') is a typical warbler of the genus ''Curruca''. It breeds in Greece, Turkey and neighbouring islands. It is migratory, wintering in northeast Africa. This is a rare vagrant to western Europe. The name is ...
it forms a
superspecies with dark throats, white malar streaks and light
remigial fringes. This in turn is related to the species of Mediterranean and
Middle East ''Curruca'' warblers that have a naked eye-ring, namely the
eastern subalpine warbler,
Sardinian warbler and
Menetries's warbler. Both groups have a white malar area, but this may not form a clear streak in the latter group; above the white, the heads of males are uniformly dark.(The Sylvia Monograph, A & C Black, London; Jønsson & Fjeldså 2006)
This is a
bird of dry open country, often on hill slopes, with bushes for nesting. The nest is built in low shrub or gorse, and 3–5
eggs are laid. Like most "
warblers", it is
insectivorous
A robber fly eating a hoverfly
An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects.
The first vertebrate insectivores were ...
, but will also take berries.
References
Further reading
* The Sylvia Warblers Monograph, A & C Black, London: ‘Sylvia Warblers: Identification, Taxonomy and Phylogeny of the Genus Sylvia’ (2001) by Shirihai, H., Gargallo, G., & Helbig, J. A.
llustrated by Alan Harris; Photographic Editing and Field Photography by David Cottridge ; Edited by Guy M. Kirwan and Lars Svensson. (Helm Identification Guides)
* Jønsson, Knud A. & Fjeldså, Jon (2006): A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri). ''
Zool. Scripta'' 35(2): 149–186.
(HTML abstract)
Cyprus warbler
Birds of Southern Europe
Birds of the Middle East
Birds of North Africa
Endemic fauna of Cyprus
Cyprus warbler
Taxa named by Henry Baker Tristram
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