BirdTab LogoBirdTab

Eurasian Blackcap

Sylvia atricapilla

Least Concern (IUCN Red List)Sylviid Warblers and Allies
Eurasian Blackcap, photographed by Alexis Lours

Photo: Alexis Lours · Wikimedia · CC-BY 4.0 (licence)

Add to my checklistRange map and sightings on eBird

Call and song

About the Eurasian Blackcap

A rather distinctive and bulky warbler: male plain grayish overall with eponymous black cap; female and juvenile plain, slightly browner overall, with rusty-brown cap. Inhabits wooded and scrubby habitats, including gardens, sometimes visiting feeders in the winter. Small numbers winter in Western Europe, but most migratory birds move south to Africa and the Mediterranean region. Song is a varied, rather loud rich warble, often strident. Often gives a harsh “chakchak” call, usually in series. Rare dark morph with black-hooded male and brown-hooded female can be found on the Atlantic Islands and very scarcely elsewhere.

Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made

Where it has been recorded

Recorded in 113 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.