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Eurasian Reed Warbler | Acrocephalus scirpaceus
Kleine karekiet | Carricero común
The Eurasian Reed Warbler is the common plain brown reed warbler of reedbeds, both a breeder and a numerous passage migrant in the region. Besides the European form, the greyer eastern form fuscus and the small, sedentary form avicenniae of the Red Sea mangroves occur here, and in Morocco a resident population resembling African Reed Warbler.
Voice
The song is a slow, low, grating and monotonous chatter of short motifs repeated two to four times: karra-karra-kit-kit, cherk-cherk, kerra-kit, without acceleration or climax. The call is a low cherr and a hard chek.
Recording: David Darrell-Lambert — CC BY-NC 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
12.5–14 cm. Upperparts plain brown with a warmer, rufous rump; underparts off-white with buff flanks. The forehead is flat and the head elongated, with a long, thin bill; the supercilium is short and faint and the pale eye-ring narrow. Primary projection medium-length. Legs grey-brown. The eastern form fuscus (Iraq, Arabia, Levant) is greyer olive-brown, with a less warm rump and whiter underparts. The mangrove form avicenniae is smaller, shorter-winged and pale sandy-brown above.
Confusion species
Marsh Warbler (Acrocephalus palustris) is yellower olive-brown, with a steeper forehead, a longer primary projection with pale tips and pale legs; the song decides. Blyth's Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus dumetorum) is cold grey-brown, with a short primary projection and a clearer supercilium in front of the eye. Paddyfield Warbler (Acrocephalus agricola) has a short bill and a broad supercilium. Clamorous Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus stentoreus) and Basra Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus griseldis) are much larger, with a longer bill and a louder song.
Habitat
Reedbeds in shallow water: marshes, lake shores, rivers, fish ponds, irrigation channels, sewage works and reedbeds in oases. Along the Red Sea the form avicenniae breeds in mangrove (Avicennia marina). On passage also in bushes, tamarisks and gardens far from water.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the habitats of North Africa and the Middle East.
Range and movements
Breeds in Morocco, northern Algeria and Tunisia, on the Libyan coast, in the Nile valley and delta and the oases of Egypt, in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and locally in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Eastern Province) and Kuwait, partly as the form fuscus. The mangrove form avicenniae is resident along the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and southern Egypt. In Morocco some birds winter locally. A common passage migrant throughout the region, including the Gulf states, Oman and Yemen. Beyond the region from Europe to Central Asia; migrants winter in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In April or May in a reedbed in the Nile Delta, the Hula or Merja Zerga, or in the mangroves near Jizan or on the Farasan Islands for the form avicenniae. In autumn the ringing stations in Sinai and at Eilat are full of reed warblers fattening up for the desert crossing.
Conservation status
Not globally threatened. Locally threatened by drainage of marshes and felling of mangroves along the Red Sea, and by loss of reedbeds along the flyway.
Scientific name
Acrocephalus scirpaceus | (Hermann, 1804)
Hermann described the species in 1804 as Turdus scirpaceus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Acrocephalus was introduced in 1811 by Naumann & Naumann. Acrocephalus is Greek, from akros 'topmost, pointed' and kephalē 'head'; the Naumanns, who introduced the genus, called these birds Spitzkopf 'pointed head', so they read akros as 'pointed'. scirpaceus is Latin for 'belonging to the bulrushes', from scirpus, 'bulrush'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Alsace.