Bearded reedlings | Panuridae

Baardmannetjes | Bigotudos

A family of a single species, and there is little outward likeness to point to: its separate place rests on skull structure and on hereditary data, which set it beside the larks rather than with the tits or warblers it was long filed under. What marks it is its tie to extensive old reedbed: a small orange-yellow bill, a very long graduated tail and feet that grip two stems at once. In summer these birds take insects, in winter reed seed; in autumn the muscular stomach thickens and they swallow grit to grind that hard seed. They nest low in the reeds, two to four times a year, and male and female differ in head pattern from the nest onward.