Eurasian Blackcap

Sylvia atricapilla

The Eurasian blackcap is a bird usually known simply as the blackcap. It is a common and widespread typical warbler. It has mainly olive-grey upperparts and pale grey underparts, and differences across the five subspecies are small. Both sexes have a neat coloured cap to the head, black in the male and reddish-brown in the female. The male's typical song is a rich musical warbling, often ending in a loud high-pitched crescendo, but a simpler song is given in some isolated areas, such as valleys in the Alps. The blackcap's closest relative is the garden warbler, which looks quite different but has a similar song.

Scientific name

Sylvia atricapilla

Family

Sylviid Warblers and Allies

IUCN status

LC

Birds of Conservation Concern

Green