About Hippolais icterina (Vieillot, 1817)
This is a fairly large warbler species with a large head, a broad-based bill, long wings, and a fairly short, square-ended tail. Its upperparts are greyish-green, and its underparts are uniformly light yellow. It has pale lores, a rather vague yellowish supercilium, and a pale eye ring. Additional distinguishing features include a panel on the folded wings, formed by pale edges on the secondary and tertiary feathers, and grey, sometimes bluish legs. The icterine warbler occupies woodland habitats rather than dense closed forest, and it prefers woodland edges or glades. It favors the crowns of well-spaced trees with tall undergrowth, and shows a preference for broad-leafed trees, though it can also be found in conifers mixed with broad-leafed trees. It also occurs in copses, orchards, parks, gardens, shelterbelts, and tall hedges that have scattered trees interspersed. Of the four species in the genus Hippolais, the icterine warbler has the most northerly and widespread distribution. Its breeding range extends from northern France and Norway through most of northern and eastern Europe, south as far as the northern Balkans Mountains and Crimea Mountains, then continues east as a narrowing band to the River Ob. While it is normally a passage migrant in Great Britain and Ireland, it has recently bred in Scotland. A sighting of the icterine warbler was recorded in Gambell, Alaska in 2022, and the species was also documented in the state the following year. It is a fully migratory species, and the entire population winters in sub-Saharan Africa, mainly south of the equator. It begins its southward migration in late July, with migration peaking in early August, and returns to its breeding range in late May.
