The Barred Warbler (Curruca nisoria) is the heaviest-built of the warblers breeding in Sweden — about as long as the Lesser Whitethroat at 15–17 cm but considerably more robust, with a thicker bill and a longer tail. The male is grey above with a whitish-grey underside covered in distinct dark barring, and a yellow eye stands out clearly against the grey face; the female looks similar but shows weaker barring. That barred, hawk-like pattern and heavy build gave the species its Swedish name, which translates as "hawk-warbler."
The Barred Warbler breeds in southeastern Sweden, chiefly on Öland and Gotland and in parts of Skåne, Blekinge and Östergötland, where the population — only a few hundred pairs — has declined sharply since the mid-20th century, a trend linked to overgrowth and the loss of open scrubland in the cultivated landscape. It is a long-distance migrant, arriving in May and wintering in East Africa. Nests are built well hidden in dense thorny scrub such as hawthorn and blackthorn, sometimes close to Red-backed Shrikes, which favour the same bush-rich habitat; the female lays 4–5 eggs, incubated for about two weeks. The diet consists of insects and other invertebrates gleaned from bush vegetation, supplemented with berries in late summer and autumn, and the species moves through thickets with a notably powerful, somewhat heavy action that matches its build. Its song is a fast, choppy and fairly loud chatter with harsh, shrike-like tones, sometimes delivered in a short song flight, and in dense cover it is often detected by voice before it is seen.
Read about this species in Swedish →