This is a species with a Western Palearctic distribution, extending into Central Asia (BirdLife International, 2022). It is present throughout most of Europe, but absent from the British Isles and the northern half of Fennoscandia (Keller et al., 2020). In Spain it has a clearly Eurosiberian distribution, but it extends along the Central System in Madrid, Ávila, Salamanca, and Cáceres. In Galicia its distribution is patchy, likely due to the peninsula effect and its peculiar migration route (Tellería, 2018). The species is absent from Ceuta and Melilla, the Balearic and Canary archipelagos, and the entire southern half of the peninsula (Infante in SEO/BirdLife, 2022).

In Madrid it maintains a stable breeding population on the southern foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama, where it occupies humid grasslands with shrubs that provide nesting sites and perches (Díaz et al., 1994).

In the national park it is a scarce bird, as it lies at the limit of its distribution on a national scale. It has been detected at a few scattered points in slope areas with shrub layers combined with grasslands, with notable concentrations in La Hoya de San Blas due to higher abundances, and in certain points of the Lozoya valley and El Cancho.