---
title: "Eurasian Blackcap"
description: "Sylvia atricapilla — Birds. The Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) is a bird usually known simply as the blackcap."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/eurasian-blackcap
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Eurasian Blackcap

> Sylvia atricapilla — Birds. The Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) is a bird usually known simply as the blackcap.

- Scientific name: *Sylvia atricapilla*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest), `urban` (Towns & gardens)
- iNaturalist observations: 73276
- Wikidata: [Q188446](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q188446)
- iNaturalist taxon: [15282](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/15282)

## Names

- en: Eurasian Blackcap
- de: Mönchsgrasmücke
- es: Curruca capirotada
- fr: Fauvette à tête noire
- pl: Kapturka

## Countries with the most observations

DE (7257), ES (6834), FR (6727), GB (5681), RU (4881), IT (4683), PT (2709), AT (2442), CH (1688), CZ (1265), UA (1026), PL (869)

## Summary

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…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_blackcap

## Photo

![Eurasian Blackcap](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/eurasian-blackcap/medium.jpg)

Photo: famkoe · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/292184747

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/eurasian-blackcap?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).