Sedge Warbler
Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
A streaked Acrocephalus warbler from the extensive family (literally 'arrow-headed'). Common over much of mid- and Northern Europe but not in the South or the far North. A migrant to winter South of the Tropics in Africa.
This bird is streaked light and dark brown with a marked supercilium (eye-stripe) and quite a good crown stripe. Sedge Warblers are mostly found in wet vegetation and are nowhere near as skulking as the Grasshopper Warbler. They have a rather scratchy but very varied song lacking the strong rhythm of their unstreaked cousins the Reeds.
Famously they double in weight before migrating and can fly up to four days and nights non-stop! The British and Irish breeding population probably numbers over 350,000 territories.
Streaked warbler of wet vegetation.
Length 130 mm Closed wing 66 mm Weight 12 gms A Bird On! Sketch by Chris Mead
Copyright © 1996 by Jacobi Jayne & Company and Chris Mead