Reed seems a monotonous habitat. In early spring, the reeds of the previous years are uniform and stand close to each other; pale gray, sometimes brown. Peeling stalk layers of the reed already provide for the maximum of visual variety. Otherwise: a sea of vertical stems. But like the right sea, the reed “sea” is inhabited. And this habitat is both species-rich and individual-rich. One of the inhabitants is the Eurasian Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus). Its plumage is as grayish-brownish as its surroundings. Like its habitat, this bird ist drab, this bird has no obvious features for the birder. A closer relative is Savi’s Warbler (Locustella luscinioides), which is colored brown, too. Like the Savi’s Warbler the tail of the Eurasian Reed-Warbler is slightly wedge-shaped, but not as strong and broad as in the Locustella- Warblers.
What is striking, though, are the song of the inhabitants of the sea of reed. This applies to the Reed-Warbler as well as for the Locustella- Warblers. Here is the Eurasian Reed-Warbler to advantage. Its song consists of a continuous, strongly rhythmic rarely accelerating performed scandals. As a rule, simple and short, relatively quiet and slowly recited elements are introduced; the louder body with constant pause lengths usually ends abruptly after different durations. Its singing can probably not be described as well-sounding. The singing is rather scratchy. But not so rough and deep compared to the Great Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus), which also lives in extensive reeds. The bird sometimes sings in the cover of the reed; but also like to sing in dense bushes. In choral singing with neighbors, it does not keep the Eurasian Reed-Warbler in secret. Then the Eurasian Reed-Warbler climbs the reeds as far as possible to meet its rival and, if possible, outdo him.
The Eurasian Reed-Warbler is a summer bird in southern and central Europe and southern Northern Europe. In addition, it occurs in southwest Asia and northwest Africa possibly in now split off (sub) species. It inhabits reeds and thick shrubs near the water. On passage, the bird is also found far away from the water in bushes, where he can rest for days in the spring singing a soft song. Otherwise it shares its habitat with Great Reed-Warbler and Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus). It inhabits smaller reed islands than the larger Great Reed-Warbler. He partially defends very small areas, which allows large abundancy. On migration, the Reed-Warbler also shares his resting areas with the very similar-looking Marsh Warbler (Acrocephalus palustris). Another possibility of confusion reigns with the Blyth’s Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus dumetorum), a bird with an eastern distribution range. The continuous singing of the reed warbler runs quite monotonously and slowly, but not as slowly as the Blyth’s Reed-Warbler.
To cope with the growing demand for top shots of the rarer species of the Palearctic Bird-Lens is keen to enrich the range of pictures of birds you can find in the western palearctic. Trips to remote places to capture images not only of rare birds of western palearctic were very successful. The nice image of the blog is only a first impression, what you will find in the gallery in the “Picture Shop” very soon. Just give bird-lens.com a message, if bird-lens.com could serve you with an image needed before the new pictures are online.