Profile
In flight
Songbirds
Eurasian Reed Warbler
Acrocephalus scirpaceus
- rare
- 55 km/h
- Least Concern
Hosts more cuckoos than almost any other species. Half the time it's raising someone else's mail.
- Population
- Global population size not directly available from IUCN/BirdLife DataZone (both inaccessible via proxy); regional data confirm large and increasing populations, e.g. UK ~130,000 breeding pairs in 2016/up 143% since 1967 (BTO), consistent with a very large, stable-to-increasing overall Palaearctic/African population
- Habitat
- Reed beds (Phragmites) and other dense waterside vegetation, often with scattered bushes; occasionally damp scrub away from water
- Fun fact
- The Eurasian reed warbler is one of the most frequent hosts of the brood-parasitic common cuckoo, often raising a cuckoo chick many times its own size at the expense of its own brood.
- Range
- Breeds across Europe into the western Palaearctic, extending to western Russia, Ukraine and Turkey; migratory populations winter in sub-Saharan Africa (some populations also resident in parts of Africa)
- Diet
- Primarily insectivorous, gleaning insects and other invertebrates from reeds and vegetation; occasionally takes berries and other plant material
- Size
- 0.13 m
- Wingspan
- 0.19 m
- Lifespan
- 12 years
