Listen to the Eurasian blackcap
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the Eurasian blackcap
The Eurasian blackcap is a bird in the family Sylviidae (order Passeriformes). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “least concern”. Adults have a wingspan of about 23 cm and weigh around 18 g.
What does the Eurasian blackcap sound like?
Most birds have two kinds of vocalisation: songs, which are learned or innate phrases delivered mainly in spring and summer, and calls – brief contact, alarm and begging notes heard all year round. Listening for both helps with identification.
The recordings here are labelled as song, subsong, alarm call and call. Listen for differences in rhythm, pitch and repetition – the spectrum display makes it easy to see whether a sound is a pure whistle (a thin line), a harsh call (a broad band) or a trill (rapid repeated marks).
From Wikipedia
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.
Related birds in the genus Sylvia
More from the family Sylviidae
Frequently asked questions
What does an Eurasian blackcap sound like?
You can hear 6 recordings of the Eurasian blackcap on this page, including its song, subsong and alarm call. Most birds have two kinds of vocalisation: songs, which are learned or innate phrases delivered mainly in spring and summer, and calls – brief contact, alarm and begging notes heard all year round.
Is the Eurasian blackcap endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Eurasian blackcap as “least concern”.
What family does the Eurasian blackcap belong to?
The Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) belongs to the family Sylviidae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources & credits
- Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) (W1CDR0001539 BD11) – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Subsong · Ile St-Pierre, Switzerland by Pascal Christe – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Alarm call · Fontaine-le-Comte, Vienne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France by Benoît Van Hecke – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call · Nová Pec, Prachatice, Jihočeský kraj, Czech Republic by Jan Cibulka – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Song · Lublin Governorate (near Lublin), Lublin, lubelskie, Poland by Marek Gajowiak – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Song · Erpe-Mere, Oost-Vlaanderen, Vlaanderen, Belgium by MarijnVandenholen – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q188446 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Eurasian blackcap – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by Vogelartinfo – GFDL 1.2