Blackcap
Sylvia atricapilla
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Cordats)
- ClassAves (Aus)
- OrderPasseriformes
- FamilySylviidae (Sylviid Warblers and Allies)
- GenusSylvia
- SpeciesSylvia atricapilla (Blackcap)
The Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) is a bird usually known simply as the blackcap. It is a common and widespread 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. Wikipedia →
Closest Relatives at Bale Mountains National Park
Brown Warbler
Sylvia lugens
Abyssinian Catbird
Parophasma galinieri
Pseudoalcippe abyssinica
Pseudoalcippe abyssinica
Abyssinian Thrush
Turdus abyssinicus
Streaky Seedeater
Crithagra striolata
Moorland Chat
Pinarochroa sordida
Tacazze Sunbird
Nectarinia tacazze
Baglafecht Weaver
Ploceus baglafecht
Abyssinian Siskin
Serinus nigriceps
Thekla Lark
Galerida theklae
Ethiopian Cisticola
Cisticola lugubris
Brown Woodland-Warbler
Phylloscopus umbrovirens
📅 Monthly Probability
Fewer than 5 records of Blackcap at Bale Mountains National Park — not enough to chart months honestly.
☀️ When They're Spotted
Most active during daytime hours (6am–6pm) · across all parks (global)
Global Distribution
Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.
where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is) · parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there