Michele Mendi

Native breeding bird around the Mediterranean, including S Europe and NW Africa (BirdLife International 2021). Insectivorous, but takes berries and fruits outside the breeding season. Migratory, with wintering areas along the Sahelian belt (BirdLife International 2021). Recent genetic studies suggest a split into three species (Zuccon et al. 2020): Moltoni’s Warbler S. subalpine (N-C Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Balearics); Western Subalpine Warbler S. iberiae (N Africa, Iberia, S France, NW Italy) and Eastern Subalpine Warbler S. cantillans (S Italy, Sicily, Balkans, Greece, Turkey).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendIncreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		7040000-10700000,8490000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Subalpine Warbler

A species with few encounters, so firm conclusions are difficult. However, encounters tend to show a NE-SW axis of migration. Most come from warblers ringed in Spain and Italy. There are few emcounters in N Africa, and very few in W Africa. The data suggest a parallel pattern of migration, so strong connectivity, at least in N Africa, where W breeders (Iberia) are found further W than E birds (Italian populations). The lack of encounters of birds from E populations (Eastern Subalpine Warbler), means that the suggested loop migration of the eastern subspecies albistriata (Aymí et al. 2021) cannot be confirmed.

Recoveries by Condition for Subalpine Warbler

There were very few recoveries before the 1990s, with just one before 1961 - a bird found dead - and  only a handful in 1961-1990. From 1991 to present, 99% of recoveries were of birds found alive, nearly al of which were recaptures by ringers.  

Annual Movements for Subalpine Warbler

Autumn migration is widespread in Sep-Oct, with most birds having left Europe before Nov, when some birds are already in W Africa. Passage in spring in Europe is obvious in Mar-Apr.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Subalpine Warbler

Birds from the SW European population are encountered in W Africa in Dec-Feb, with recoveries in Morocco in spring (Apr-May, but one in Feb), also suggesting a slightly E-biased route in spring. There are no encounters of Italian birds S of the Sahara. There are encounters in NW Africa (Algeria) in spring (Apr). Overall, spring passage through the Mediterranean is very conspicuous and occurs mostly in Apr, as reported by the ‘Piccole Isole’ project (Gargallo et al. 2011).

Juan Arizaga

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Aymí, R., Gargallo, G., Christie, D. A., Garcia, E. F. J.2021 . Eastern Subalpine Warbler (Curruca cantillans), version 1.0. Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
BirdLife International 2021 . Species factsheet: Sylvia cantillans.
Gargallo, G., Barriocanal, C., Castany, J., Clarabuch, O., Escandell, R., López, G., Rguibi, H., Robson, D., Suarez, M.2011 . Spring bird migration in the Western Mediterranean: results from the Piccole Isole Project. Monografies del Museu de Ciències Naturals, 6., Barcelona.
Zuccon, D., Pons, J.-M., Boano, G., Chiozzi, G., Gamauf, A., Mengoni, C., Nespoli, D., Olioso, G., Pavia, M., Pellegrino, I., Raković, M., Randi, E., Rguibi Idrissi, H., Touihri, M., Unsöld, M., Vitulano, S., Brambilla, M.2020 . Type specimens matter: new insights on the systematics, taxonomy and nomenclature of the subalpine warbler (Sylvia cantillans) complex. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 190: 314–341

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