Acrocephalus scirpaceus
The Common Reed Warbler, Acrocephalus scirpaceus, is a small, unassuming Old World warbler, typically measuring about 13 cm (5.1 in) in length with a wingspan of 17-21 cm (6.7-8.3 in) and weighing 10-15 g (0.35-0.53 oz). Its plumage is a rather plain, unstreaked brownish-olive above and buffy-white below, with a subtle, pale supercilium that often makes identification challenging for the inexperienced. This species belongs to the family Acrocephalidae, the marsh and reed warblers, and is clos...
Found almost exclusively in dense, emergent vegetation, primarily reedbeds (Phragmites australis) near freshwater or brackish water bodies, often at low elevations.
Primarily insectivorous, feeding on a wide variety of insects, their larvae, and spiders, gleaned directly from reed stems and leaves.
Common Reed Warblers are highly active and largely diurnal, spending most of their time clambering amongst vertical reed stems, from which they rarely emerge. Foraging involves meticulously gleaning insects from leaves and stems, often hanging upside down. Males establish territories through vigo...
The Common Reed Warbler has an expansive breeding range extending across most of temperate Europe, stretching eastward into Western Asia and northwestern Africa. Key breeding populations are found from the British Isles across Fennoscandia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Iberian and Balkan Penin...
Least Concern
- The Common Reed Warbler is one of the most frequent hosts for the Common Cuckoo, often raising cuckoo chicks that are many times their own size. - Despite its small size, it undertakes an arduous annual migration of thousands of kilometers across the Sahara Desert to winter in Sub-Saharan Afric...