Common Reed Warbler | Acrocephalus scirpaceus

Voice

The song is a rhythmic, repetitive churring and chirping, chirri-chirri-cherk-cherk-chiri-chiri, at an even tempo, with the occasional whistle or imitation; less fast and wild than that of Sedge Warbler and much less melodious than that of Lesser Swamp Warbler. The call is a short chk, with a grating charr when alarmed.

Identification

12–13 cm, slim, with a flat head, a fairly long, pointed bill and a rounded tail. The upperparts are plain warm brown, more rufous on the rump; the throat is white and the underparts buffy white, warm ochre-brown on the flanks. A short, faint pale supercilium is mainly in front of the eye. The legs are dark grey-brown. African breeding birds are smaller, warmer and more rufous, with shorter, rounder wings and a short primary projection; Palearctic birds are slightly greyer olive-brown and longer-winged. The sexes are alike. It climbs nimbly up reed stems and usually keeps to cover.

Confusion species

Marsh Warbler Acrocephalus palustris is cooler olive-brown, without a rufous rump, with paler legs and a longer primary projection, lives mainly in bushes and sings with much mimicry; without song separation is difficult. Lesser Swamp Warbler Acrocephalus gracilirostris is larger, with a clear white supercilium, a white belly, dark legs and a rich, fluid song. Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus is much larger and more heavily built, with a loud, grating song. Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus has a streaked back and a broad creamy supercilium. Little Rush Warbler Bradypterus baboecala is darker, with a spotted throat and a broad tail.

Habitat

Reed fringes, bulrushes, rushes and papyrus edges along rivers, dams, vleis, sewage ponds and estuaries, also in small reed patches and rank marginal vegetation; outside the breeding season also in bushes and rank growth near water and in gardens. It gleans insects among the stems. The nest is a deep cup slung between a few reed stems and is often parasitised by cuckoos.

Range and movements

In suitable wetland across almost the whole region: Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana (mainly Okavango and Chobe), Namibia (mainly along the northern rivers and the Orange River), South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini; absent from much of the dry Kalahari and the Namib. In the interior of South Africa it is mainly a summer visitor, in the Western Cape and along the coast partly resident; Palearctic winterers occur mainly in the north of the region. Beyond the region the species breeds locally in Africa south of the Sahara and in Europe, North Africa and western and central Asia; the Palearctic birds winter in tropical Africa.

• Resident
• Summer visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
• Winter visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
• Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
• dark = core range, pale = thinly spread

How and when to look

From October to April the breeding birds sing in almost every reedbed; the Western Cape has birds all year. Good sites are the reed fringes of Rondevlei and Strandfontein near Cape Town, Marievale in Gauteng and Nylsvley. Let the song do the work: the rhythmic churring separates it from the rich song of Lesser Swamp Warbler in the same reeds.

Conservation status

Not threatened, with large populations in Africa and the Palearctic. Reed marsh disappears locally through drainage, dam building, burning and pollution, but elsewhere the species benefits from new dams and sewage ponds.

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.