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Bird Sightings : Hebrides : Sedge Warbler

 

 

Sedge Warbler

Acrocephalus schoenobaenus

Gaelic: Glaisean

Photograph © Andy L
Garrabost, Point, Isle of Lewis - Outer Hebrides (Western Isles)
June 2nd 2009

"Here is a Sedge Warbler i have been watching and listening to calling its mate for the last couple of days."

 

Our Sedge Warbler photographs

Sedge Warbler	Sedge Warbler

 

• Sedge Warbler
• Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
• Gaelic: Glaisean
• WI: Uncommon migrant breeder (10-99 breeding pairs) and passage visitor (low numbers)
• UK: Migrant Breeder, Passage Visitor. 297,000 territories (summer) BTO. Mid-April to Mid-October
• Breeding: Eurasia (Central & West). Female builds cup-shaped nest low in vegetation on ground, then lays & incubates 3-5 greenish-yellow & brown-mottled eggs.
• Winters : Africa (South of the Sahara Desert)
• Habitat: Wetland: Marshes, reedbeds, along rivers, lakes, estuaries, ponds
• Diet: Insects: mayflies, dragonflies, damselflies, grasshoppers, moths, beetles, flies etc. Birds most active near dawn & dusk when coolness makes insects slower. They often hop between plant stems, picking insects from beneath leaves, also sometimes catch flying insects by hovering, or whilst flying from perch to perch. (Autumn & Winter also berries such as Elderberry, Blackberry).
• Medium sized (11.5 - 13cm) , fairly plump, warbler. Distinct broad creamy stripe above eye. Brown back with blackish streaks. Creamy-white below. Legs greyish-brown.
• Typical lifespan 2yrs. Max recorded age: 10 yrs 1mth
• Listen to a Sedge Warbler (RSPB). (Singing from bare perch on outside of bushes or reed stem. Song noisy, rambling warble - Reed Bunting has rhythmic song)
• Similar birds: Reed Warbler

 

The song of the male Sedge Warbler consists of chattering phrases and can include mimicry of other species. The bird introduces random phrases into its song so it never sings the same song twice. The males with the broadest range of phrases attract the most matings from females.

In migrating from breeding grounds to their wintering sites Sedge Warblers cross the Sahara Desert.

 

 

Sedge Warbler records in the Western Isles

Uncommon migrant breeder (10-99 breeding pairs) and passage visitor (low numbers)
Source: Outer Hebrides Bird Report (2001)

On the chart below the darker the shade of blue the more abundant the Sedge Warbler is during a month or the more likely you are to see it.

J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D

(Source: Outer Hebrides Birds Checklist)

 

 

Other local bird photographs

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