Hippolais languida

Upcher’s Warbler is classified as Vulnerable (VU) because of the small size of its population (less than 1,000 adult birds) and the rapid rate of decline, estimated at more than 10% over three generations (12 years). In the previous edition of the Red Book (2002), it was classified as Near Threatened (NT). The change in its status reflects a deterioration in the population, as well as improvement in the quality of the data and differences in assessment methods.

Habitats	Mediterranean Batha, Parks & Woodlands
Presence In Israel	Summer
Breeding In Israel	Breeder
Migration Types	Long Range
Zoographical Zones	Mediterranean, Irano-Turanian
Landscape Types	Mountainous
Vegetation Types	Mediterranean Garrigue, Steppe
Vegetation Densities	Medium, Low
Nest Locations	Tree, Bushes
Diet Types	Invertebrate
Foraging Grounds	Trees and Shrubs
Body Sizes	Small (up to 500g)
Threat Factors	Wildfires, Tree planting, Habitat loss and fragmentation

Upcher’s Warbler is a medium sized warbler, larger than the Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and smaller than the Olive-tree Warbler. Its upper parts are dark brown-grey and lower parts are whitish. The tail it is dark, long and wide, bordered in white, which it constantly swings slowly. The male’s song resembles the Nightingale, pleasant and trilling, sung from the top of trees and shrubs.

A rare summer breeder and migrates in small numbers. It nests in shrubland on Mt. Hermon, in the northern Golan Heights and the eastern Lakhish hills. Until the 1980s, it also nested in the Eastern Galilee and Judean and Samarian hills, but in recent years there have been only few observations from these areas.

Habitat destruction due to expansion of settlements and land reclamation for agriculture and planting.
Wildfires in shrubland (Batha and Garrigue) caused by military training exercises.

No specific conservation measures have been taken for this species to date.

Quality Garrigue areas in the northern Golan Heights and the eastern Lakhish region should be protected from wildfires and development.

• ישראלי, נ. ופרלמן, י. 2013. סיכום סקר עופות מקננים בחרמון. דו"ח מרכז הצפרות של החברה להגנת הטבע.
• מירוז, א. 2013. סיכום סקר ציפורים במזרח לכיש, אביב 2013. דו"ח רשות הטבע והגנים.
• מירוז, א. ושוחט, א. 2014. סיכום סקר ציפורים סביב היישוב נטע במזרח לכיש – 2014. דו"ח רשות הטבע והגנים.
• מירוז, א., 2007 . סיכום סקר ציפורים בגבעות גומר. דו"ח עבור רשות הטבע והגנים.
• פז, ע. 1986. עופות. מתוך אלון, ע. (עורך), החי והצומח של ארץ ישראל. כרך 6. הוצאת משרד הביטחון, ישראל.

• Shirihai, H., 1996. The Birds of Israel. Academic Press, London.
• Symes, A. 2013. Species generation lengths. Unpublished, BirdLife International.
• Species page at Birdlife International