Sylvia atricapilla (Linnaeus, 1758)

This species breeds in almost any kind of forested area. It prefers broadleaf deciduous forest and mixed woodland, either mature or more open and with denser understorey. In addition it occupies riparian forest, parks and gardens with trees, fruit-tree plantations, orchards, and evergreen woodland. In the winter, it uses more with bushy areas rich in berries and other fruits, such as maquis and garrigue, olive groves, urban gardens and palm plantations. In Africa it is found in a large spectrum of habitats from lowland savanna rich in fruit trees to mangroves, riverside woodland and montane scrub and forest. Availability of fruit influences seasonal variation in habitat occupation. Breeding mainly occurs from mid-April to August and it lays two to seven eggs. The nest is a finely structured cup with rather thin walls and bottom, made of grasses and herbs and some twigs and rootlets and lined with finer grass, hair and roots. It is normally built low in broadleaf deciduous vegetation, especially in dense foliage of a shrub or bush or the branches of a small tree but also in tall herbaceous vegetation. The diet consists chiefly of insects in the breeding season and mainly fruit the rest of the year. On Atlantic and Mediterranean islands the species is sedentary, in the Mediterranean Basin and in parts of western Europe it is partially migratory and it is a long-distance migrant in northern and eastern parts of its range (Aymí et al. 2013).