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 Volcanoes National Park
Streaky Seedeater
Crithagra striolata
Chubb's Cisticola
Cisticola chubbi
Common Bulbul
Pycnonotus barbatus
Pied Crow
Corvus albus
Baglafecht Weaver
Ploceus baglafecht
Variable Sunbird
Cinnyris venustus
Bronze Sunbird
Nectarinia kilimensis
Northern Grey-headed Sparrow
Passer griseus
African Stonechat
Saxicola torquatus
Black-crowned Waxbill
Estrilda nonnula
White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher
Dioptrornis fischeri
African Pied Wagtail
Motacilla aguimp
📅 Monthly Probability
Fewer than 5 records of Blackcap at Volcanoes 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