Spectacled Warbler Curruca conspicillata Scientific name definitions

12 cm; 7·8–13·1 g. Small and dainty, moderately long-tailed warbler with rather short and rounded wings. Male nominate race breeding has light slate-grey head , with rather well-marked greyish-black facial mask and white eyering; upperparts pale buffish grey-brown; fringes of remiges and major upperwing-coverts form conspicuous and solid rufous to rusty-orange wingpanel  , highlighting isolated black centres of tertials, primary tips and alula; tail black, outermost rectrix with well-demarcated white covering most of outer web and distal half of inner web, adjacent feather pair with white more restricted to tip and forming narrower fringe on outer web, next pair with sightly less white, sometimes also faint whitish tips on next two feather pairs (T3 and T2); submoustachial stripe, chin and throat side whitish; centre of throat and upper breast  dusky grey, rest of breast and flanks buffish-pink, centre of belly whitish; iris dark sepia-brown, orbital ring blackish; bill pale pinkish-flesh, blackish culmen and tip; legs brownish-orange. Male in non-breeding plumage is more tinged sandy brown above and whitish below. Female breeding resembles non-breeding male, but lacks dark facial mask, distinctly browner head  is mostly concolorous with rest of upperparts, has wingpanel and underparts less deeply coloured, orbital ring brownish-black; non-breeding female very much as breeding, but still less greyish above and whitish and less buffish below. Juvenile is very like non-breeding female, but with duller and paler wingpanel, less coloured underparts , tail dark grey-brown, pale tips and edges of outer rectrices buffish-cream and much reduced, iris dark olive-grey, orbital ring yellowish-brown to greyish-black; first-winter like respective adult, but with juvenile-like bare parts and unmoulted flight-feathers. Race orbitalis is very similar to nominate but darker and more deeply coloured, with more intensely rufous wingpanel , male with duskier head and less contrasting facial mask.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Favours very low scrubland (c. 0·5–1 m tall) in mostly dry warm Mediterranean areas, from sea-level to 2400–2600 m. Typical species of lowest and sparser scrubby areas characteristic of less developed garrigue, saltflats and semi-desert . Occupies first stages of post-wildfire succession, and can recolonize habitat one year after fire. On Atlantic islands, race <em>orbitalis</em> occupies wider range of habitats, from acacia (Acacia) and Lantana scrub to cultivated or semi-cultivated areas. In desert non-breeding areas, found also in more grassy formations and in tamarisk (Tamarix) thickets along wadis and at oases.

Resident and partial migrant. Race orbitalis mostly sedentary, undertaking some altitudinal movements; perhaps a few first-year individuals disperse to mainland NW Africa . Most SW European populations migratory; those from Malta, S Sicily, Cyprus and parts of Levant and SE Spain partially migratory; N African populations partially migratory or altitudinal migrants, highest breeding grounds being vacated in winter. Migrants leave breeding grounds late Aug to early Oct, autumn passage largely unnoticeable; arrival at wintering grounds from mid Sept to Oct, and departure from late Feb to early May; spring passage more conspicuous, mostly Mar–Apr; migrants arrive on breeding grounds in mainland Europe mid-Mar to early May, in NW Africa (Haut Atlas) as late as end of May.

Food mostly small arthropods  and insect larvae  and eggs; recorded prey include spiders (Araneae), grasshoppers (Orthoptera), flies (Diptera), small hymenopterans, small beetles (Coleoptera). Also consumes various types of berry, e.g. those of Rubus, Morus and Myoporum, and occasionally nectar, mostly outside breeding season. Forages low down among bushes, scrub and grass, or directly on ground  . Follows wheatears (Oenanthe), taking advantage of insects disturbed by them. During post-breeding period and in winter can form flocks of 3–10 individuals; otherwise largely solitary.

Song , usually from bush perch or in song flight, less frequently from treetop, composed of short, sweet musical warbles (1–2·9 seconds long) uttered rapidly and repeatedly, combining noisy notes with higher-pitched whistles. Call a sustained and rattling “trrrrrrr”, c. 0·5–1·5 seconds long, given at slightly decelerating tempo.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Locally common, both on breeding and on wintering grounds, but usually patchily distributed. Typically rather local and discontinuous in various parts of range (e.g. Balearic Is, Corsica, parts of Israel and Spain), pairs concentrating in some areas while avoiding nearby large extensions of similar habitat. European population estimated at 180,000–440,000 breeding pairs by year 2000; densities in favoured habitats 2·5–7·2 pairs/10 ha. Populations generally rather stable; range expanding N in mainland Europe (e.g. Spain, France and Italy), and leading to recent colonization of S Switzerland (c. 300 km N of regular breeding range); this northward expansion could be related to climate warming (4 Assandri, G. and Morganti, M. (2015). Is the Spectacled Warbler Sylvia conspicillata expanding northward because of climate warming? Bird Study. 62(1): 126–131. Close ). First recorded breeding in Turkey (Karacadag plateau) in 2002. In NW Africa, breeding long suspected in Mauritania but confirmed only in 2004 (several pairs); possibly breeds there only after heavy rains. Decrease in numbers observed locally; has apparently disappeared recently from Mallorca, and declined during last decades in Corsica, Malta, Israel and Catalonia (NE Spain); decreases due to urbanization, conversion of steppes into irrigated lands, and afforestation; resident populations also sensitive to cold, severe winter weather.