Africa Wild Bird Book

[nan]

630. Eurasian Reed-warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus (Hermanse Rietsanger)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Acrocephalidae



Description
Length: 13 cm. Weight: 8-19.7g. A rather indistinct, plain, un-streaked warbler. The upperparts are dull olive-brown, with a darker patch on the crown, a cream eye stripe and a dusky patch between the eyes and the bill. There is a faint rusty tinge to the back of the head, wings and tail and the whitish underparts are suffused with pale buff on the breast and darker buff on the flanks. The eye colour changes with age and the iris is charcoal coloured in their first year, but olive-brown when maturity is reached. It is robustly built, with bluntly pointed wings, a large bill and large feet.
The juvenile is brighter and rustier than the adult, with an orange suffusion on the upperparts and duskier underparts.
Similar species: It is difficult to distinguish the Eurasianan Reed Warbler from the African Reed Warbler A. baeticatus and the Marsh Warbler A. palustris on sight alone. Its call is virtually identical to that of the African Reed Warbler but differs from that of the Marsh Warbler. The Eurasian Reed-Warbler may be distinguished by plumage condition from the African Reed Warbler during December–February when the former is likely to be in heavy moult, unlike the latter.

Distribution
Its breeding grounds stretch from north Africa to Europe and Russia; in the non-breeding season it heads south to sub-Saharan Africa, where it occurs from Senegal to Ethiopia south through the DRC to Zambia and southern Africa. Here it is fairly common in certain localities of the Caprivi Strip and northern Botswana, but much more rare in Zimbabwe, south-eastern Botswana and South Africa.

Habitat
The Eurasian Reed Warbler primarily breeds in mature reed beds along the shores of lakes, fish ponds, ditches and rivers, although it also breeds in other vegetation in drier habitats, such as scrub. In its wintering grounds it occurs in thickets and tall grass, as well as bushes, forest edges and garden hedges.

Movements and migrations
It arrives in Kenya and Uganda around November-January, with most records from Botswana in late November to December, leaving from March to early April.

Diet
A rather opportunistic species, the Eurasian Reed Warbler feeds on a varied diet that consists primarily of a diversity of insects such as termite alates and mosquitoes, but also includes fruits, seeds and flowers. It mainly catches its prey on reed stems and blades, in bushes and on the ground.

Breeding
In Europe the Eurasian Reed Warbler breeds between May and August, with monogamous pairs constructing their nest in loose colonies. It is the female that mainly builds the deep, cup-shaped nest by neatly weaving split reed blades, flowers, grass stems and plant down. Three to five eggs are laid and then incubated by both adults for 8 to 13 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge from the nest after 10 to 12 days, becoming independent 10 to 14 days later.

Call
Similar to African Reed Warbler. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Rare summer visitor. Uncommon at a few localities in Botswana, rare elsewhere. Non-breeding Palearctic migrant present November-April.

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630. Eurasian Reed-warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus (Hermanse Rietsanger)


Switzerland





© Dewi

© Dewi

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2
ARKive: http://www.arkive.org/eurasian-reed-war ... cirpaceus/
IDENTIFYING WARBLERS

[Toko]

631. African Reed-warbler (fromerly known as African Marsh Warbler) Acrocephalus baeticatus (Kleinrietsanger)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Acrocephalidae

Description
13 cm. Above light medium brown (faintly more rufous than European Marsh Warbler); eyebrow indistinct; below buffy white, faintly washed cinnamon-buff across breast and flanks.
Adult: Upper parts warm brown, rump and upper tail coverts tinged rufous. Supercilium buff, indistinct; lores and ear coverts brown. Tail dark brown. Wings dark brown, feathers edged paler warm brown. Underparts whitish; breast and undertail coverts suffused with buff, flanks rich buff. Upper mandible dark brown, lower mandible yellowish. Eyes pale brown. Legs and feet dark greenish horn to flesh-brown.
Juvenile: As adult, but brighter; slightly more rufous.
Similar species: Lesser and Greater Swamp Warblers darker, more heavily built, with more robust legs. Much smaller than Lesser Swamp Warbler, and shorter-winged and much warmer buffy-brown than similar-looking Palearctic species. Smaller than European Marsh Warbler; wing shorter and more rounded than in European Reed Warbler, but almost indistinguishable in the field.

Distribution
Whole of South Africa, to East Africa. Occurs in Arabia and sub-Saharan Africa, where it is patchy across the Sahel but with the bulk of its population spread from Sudan through the DRC to Zambia, Angola and southern Africa.

Taxonomy
Acrocephalus baeticatus was split from the Eurasian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus; recent studies indicate that they may be lumped again in future.
Acrocephalus baeticatus has about seven subspecies:
A. b. guiersi: Northern Senegal
A. b. cinnamomeus (fraterculus, hopsoni): Senegal to southern Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia south to Mozambique
A. b. hallae: South-western Angola to Namibia, south-western Botswana, south-western Zambia and Malawi
A. b. avicenniae: Mangroves of coastal Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia and western Arabia
A. b. suahelicus: Coastal Tanzania to Mozambique and Natal
A. b. baeticatus: Northern Botswana to Transvaal, Natal, eastern and southern Cape Province.

Habitat
Mostly reedbeds, tall grass, rank weeds, swampy areas, margins of sewage ponds, willow groves on rivers and dams; also rank vegetation away from water, gardens, exotic wattles in South Western Cape.

Diet
It mainly eats insects, plucking them from leaves and branches or catching them in flight.

Breeding
Monogamous, sometimes facultative cooperative breeder. The nest is a deep cup built of reed leaves and grass, lined with finer plant material. It is typically attached to the stems of reeds, grasses, sedges, arum lilies (Zantedeschia), occasionally in the drooping branches of a willow (Salix). Egg-laying season is from September-April, peaking from October-January. It lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for 12.5-14 days. Th eggs are white, greyish white or pale bluish, spotted with greyish brown and grey. The chicks are cared for by both parents and sometimes the helper, leaving the nest after about 12-13 days.

Call
Song sustained grating and squeaky notes varying in pitch, chuk-chuk-chuk, chrr-chrr-chrr, chirruk-chirruk-chirruk, cheeek cheeek, etc.; similar to song of European Reed Warbler; lacks fluty bubbling notes of Cape Reed and European Marsh Warblers; harsh scolding alarm note.

Status
Common summer resident, occasional in winter. Breeding intra-African migrant; winters in C Africa; may be conspecific with European Reed Warbler.

[Toko]

631. African Reed-warbler Acrocephalus baeticatus

© Amoli
Marievale Bird Sanctuary, Gauteng

Links:
Species text Sabap1: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/631.pdf
IDENTIFYING WARBLERS
Peter Kennerley, David Pearson: Reed and Bush Warblers
Newman's Birds of Southern Africa

[Flutterby]

Locustellidae is a newly recognized family of small insectivorous songbirds ("warblers"), formerly placed in the Old World warbler "wastebin" family. It contains the grass warblers, grassbirds, and the Bradypterus "bush warblers". These birds occur mainly in Eurasia, Africa, and the Australian region. The family name is sometimes given as Megaluridae, but Locustellidae has priority.

The species are smallish birds with tails that are usually long and pointed; the scientific name of the genus Megalurus in fact means "the large-tailed one" in plain English. They are less wren-like than the typical shrub-warblers (Cettia) but like these drab brownish or buffy all over. They tend to be larger and slimmer than Cettia though, and many have bold dark streaks on wings and/or underside. Most live in scrubland and frequently hunt food by clambering through thick tangled growth or pursuing it on the ground; they are perhaps the most terrestrial of the "warblers". Very unusual for Passeriformes, beginning evolution towards flightlessness is seen in some taxa.

Among the "warbler and babbler" superfamily Sylvioidea, the Locustellidae are closest to the Malagasy warblers, another newly recognized (and hitherto unnamed) family; the black-capped donacobius (Donacobius atricapillus) is an American relative derived from the same ancestral stock and not a wren as was long believed.

[Flutterby]

Family Locustellidae Index:

Schoenicola brevirostris Broad-tailed Warbler 642

[Dindingwe]

642. Broad-tailed Warbler (formerly known as Fan-tailed Grassbird) Schoenicola brevirostris (Breëstertsanger)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Locustellidae

Fan-tailed Grassbird.jpg (36 KiB) Viewed 1119 times

Description
Length 15cm, mass 15g.
Sexes alike. Light brown upperparts contrast with conspicuous long broad blackish tail that is barred buff below.
Juvenile has a shorter and narrower tail, and upperparts are more rufous.

Distribution
It has localised populations scattered in the DRC, extending southwards through Angola and Zambia to southern Africa.

sabap2_map_smoothed616_mid.png (45.85 KiB) Viewed 1394 times

Habitat
Occurs in thick grassland in poorly drained areas and along grassy hillsides.

Diet
It is insectivorous, feeding on caterpillars, grasshoppers and beetles.

Breeding
The nest is an untidy, thick-walled cup built with broad grass blades and lined with finer grass. It is typically concealed in the center of a grass tussock or between closely-packed grass stems. Egg-laying season is from November-April, peaking from November-January. It lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated by a dedicated adult, who sits tight even if touched or otherwise disturbed. Not much is known about the chicks, other than that they are fed by both parents.

Call
Slow and repetitive, high-pitched frog-like tsee, tsee, tsee.

Status
Uncommon and localised. Near-threatened in South Africa, probably due to the overgrazing, frequent burning and trampling of its preferred grassland habitat. It is however well-represented in protected areas.

[Dindingwe]

642. Broad-tailed Warbler (formerly known as Fan-tailed Grassbird) Schoenicola brevirostris
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Locustellidae

Broad-tailed Warbler.JPG (57.34 KiB) Viewed 1114 times

IMG_4263.JPG (58.67 KiB) Viewed 1394 times

Cleveland Dam near Harare © Dindingwe


Links:
http://sabap2.birdmap.africa/docs/sabap1/642.pdf

[Dindingwe]

637. Dark-capped Yellow Warbler Iduna natalensis Geelsanger
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Acrocephalidae

Description
15cm; 12g
A medium sized warbler in which the whole of the upperparts and tail are yellowish-brown, with a slightly browner crown and yellower rump. The wings have brown feathers edged with yellow. The underparts are bright yellow with an olive wash on the sides of the breast, flanks and lower belly. The bill is pale on the upper mandible and blackish on the lower and the legs are blackish. Upperparts are olive-brown and not olive green as in paler Icterine Warbler. Sexes are alike but female is duller and with less contrast between upper and underparts. Juvenile is browner above, a yellower throat and whiter belly than adult.

Distribution
Occurs disjunctly from Nigeria east to Ethiopia, south through eastern DRC, Angola and Zambia to southern Africa.



Habitat
Locally common in dense, moist vegetation along watercourses, also occurring along the edge of reedbeds and forests. The only yellow warbler to inhabit wetland margins and rank marshy habitats.

Diet
It typically forages low down in the dense thicket that characterises its preferred habitat, gleaning invertebrates such as caterpillars from leaves and branches. It also hawks termite alates, returning to a perch after catching them to feed on its prey.

Breeding
The nest is a neat cup built with grass, typically placed between upright stems or in the fork of bush, such as wild dagga (Leonotis) and fireweeds. Egg-laying season is from September-March. It lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated mainly by the female for roughly 12 days. The chicks are fed by both parents but mainly the female, leaving the nest after about 14-16 days, becoming independent about a month later.

Call
A rapid series of throaty and varied notes preceded by a few raspy notes, chip-chip-chip-whee-lee-wheeo. The alarm call is sharp tsk or chirr.

Status
Locally common resident; altitudinal migrant from cooler high-lying regions in winter months. IUCN status - not threatened.

[Dindingwe]

637. Dark-capped Yellow Warbler Iduna natalensis Geelsanger

© Dindingwe
Harare, Zimbabwe

Links:
http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/bir ... lensis.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_yellow_warbler
Roberts Bird Guide