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  In flight

Songbirds

Cetti's Warbler

Cettia cetti

• rare
• 55 km/h
• Least Concern

You'll hear the explosive song long before you see the bird. Loud delivery, ghost of a courier.

Population

~600,000–1,600,000 breeding pairs in Europe (BirdLife/IUCN gives a broader global figure of ~9.07–14.6 million mature individuals across the full Palearctic range); overall population trend stable

Habitat

Thick, shrubby vegetation in damp areas close to (but not within) ponds, lakes, marshes, reedbeds and rivers

Fun fact

Despite being one of Europe's most skulking and rarely-seen warblers, Cetti's Warbler betrays its presence with a sudden, explosively loud burst of song from deep cover; it's also unusual among passerines for having only ten tail feathers instead of the typical twelve.

Range

Southern and western Europe and northwest Africa east through the Middle East to Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan; range has expanded northward in recent decades (first bred in Britain/Kent 1972, first recorded Ireland 2013/breeding 2022)

Diet

Insectivorous, feeding on small soft-bodied arthropods and their larvae gleaned from dense low vegetation

Size

0.14 m

Lifespan

9 years