Black cap warbler / Mönchsgrasmücke (Sylvia atricapilla)

Background - El pajaro Parque de Retiro or botanic garden, Madrid - describes black-cap warblers, one of the few birds I didn't hear there. 2024-07-13 12:45:33 Spain Galaxy S24 Ultra Shutter speed 1/895
ISO 12
Exposure 1/895
Classification: Genus Sylvia (Sylvia); Subfamily Sylviinae (Sylviinae); Family Old world warblers (Sylviidae)
On a tree branch, but not usually on the treetop.
Etymology: Grayish bird with black cap (or brown in the case of females), for which reason the German name refers to them as monks. [Link]
Song: Mit schwätzendem Vorgesang, (kann auch kurz sein oder ganz fehlen) der dann in klare, kräftige, zum Ende hin in wehmütige Flötentöne übergeht (Überschlag) [Link]
Song pleasing, varied and loud. Sometimes very similar to Garden Warbler. A typical phrase starts with soft, staccato chattering and mimicry, which after a few seconds changes to a much louder, pure and resonant stream of notes for about 3-5 seconds. No fixed motif, but may end phrases with recurring notes. Often deviates from the characteristic type of song, and identification from song alone may be impossible. May sing first part of song for extended periods without ever reaching the characteristic ending. [Link]
Calls: „täck“ oft wiederholt [Link]
Alarm call a hard "check", similar to Lesser White-throat. Sometimes with an additional hoarse and nasal "cherrrr". [Link]
Physical details: length=13 cm, wingspan=20-23 cm, weight=16-25 g
Habitats: Forest, Agricultural

Song: They sometimes sing like a blackbird on speed - also non-stereotypic, seemingly improvised, in short bursts. Our local guy ends most of his songs with the same seven notes, which I find a good way to confirm the identification. In Ticino we often heard the 'Leiern' sound - the warblers would sing just the first 3 notes of a longer song, then stop. The order varied; high-medium-low I call 'Figaro' as in the opera, low-high-medium 'whiskey bar', as it sounded to me like the Kurt Weill lyrics, 'O-oh-show me-the-way to-the-next whis-ke-bar' - but the warbler usually stopped after 'way' or 'next' The British authors of The Sound Approach claim to hear 'a warblel and a whistle'.
Song attributes: Melody: improvised melodic (hml), fast, Frequency: 2-5 KHz Special sounds: mimicry Singing season: 03-01 - 07-31 Dawn chorus start, 45 minutes before dawn.
Lugano 2021-03-31 19:12:00 Melody: hml ♫ 2021-03-31 19:12:00 Source: BirdNet 20210331_191200 birdnet 1356 - Eurasian Blackcap hml - 2021-03-31 19:12:00 - Eurasian Blackcap - Lugano.mp3 Lugano (song)

Calls: 1: General: Sputtery/stoney, but may have other calls too.
Call: The Blackcap may generate a perplexing variety of territorial calls, though the typical contact call is a hard, tongue-clicking "teck teck" which has a scolding quality to it. It's not dissimilar to the 'pebble-clacking' call of the Stonechat. [Suffex Wildlife Trust]

XC546030 black cap warbler so-called tac and djii call.
♫

2: Automatically generated from Xeno-Canto recording.

XC548858-20200411 Eurasian Blackcap, alarm call part of advertising song, male, Flughafen Belpmoos, Bern, Switzerland. Switzerland
♫

Call attributes: Call melody: one note, slow, Frequency: high (3-9 KHz), Special sounds: sputter/pebble-clatter.
First documented observation: 2020-04-13 in Luppmen. Most recent observation: 2025-03-08 in Fehraltorf.