Appearance
It is a small warbler. The adult has a plain grey-green back, green-toned rump and wings and whitish underparts. The bill is small and pointed and the legs brown. The sexes are identical, as with most warblers.The eastern Bonelli's warbler lacks the browner tinge to the upperparts that western Bonelli's warbler has; it sometimes has a greenish tinge instead. The song is a fast monotone trill, only slightly different from western Bonelli's, and also some similarity to wood warbler. The call of the eastern Bonelli's warbler is a hard ''chup'', reminiscent of a crossbill or a house sparrow, and completely different from the disyllabic ''hu-it'' of western.
Naming
It was formerly regarded as the eastern subspecies of a wider "Bonelli's warbler" species, but as a result of modern taxonomic developments, this species is now usually considered to be two species:⤷ Western Bonelli's warbler, ''Phylloscopus bonelli'', which breeds in south west Europe and north Africa
⤷ Eastern Bonelli's warbler, ''Phylloscopus orientalis'', which breeds in south east Europe and Asia Minor
The genus name ''Phylloscopus'' is from Ancient Greek ''phullon'', "leaf", and ''skopos'', "seeker" . The specific ''orientalis'' is Latin for "eastern". The English name for this bird commemorates the Italian ornithologist Franco Andrea Bonelli.
Behavior
The species is migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a rare vagrant in Northern Europe.Reproduction
The breeding ranges of the two species do not overlap; while their appearance and songs are very similar, the calls are completely different . They also show marked difference in mtDNA sequence.References:
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