The moustached warbler (''Acrocephalus melanopogon'') is an

Old World warbler Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the ci ...

in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

'' Acrocephalus''. It breeds in southern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and southern temperate Asia with a few breeding in north-west

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. It is partially migratory. South-west European birds are resident, south-east European birds winter in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

breeding range, and the Asiatic race migrates to

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. It is scarce north of its range, but has occurred as a very rare vagrant as far as

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. There have been a few reports from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

, including a pair breeding in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

in 1946, but these records have recently been removed from the official list of British birds, being unconvincingly distinguished from sedge warblers or

paddyfield warbler The paddyfield warbler (''Acrocephalus agricola'') is a species of marsh warbler (family Acrocephalidae). It was formerly included in the "Old World warbler" assemblage. The Manchurian reed warbler (''A. tangorum'') was (and sometimes still is ...

s. This

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

is a species found in upright aquatic vegetation such as reeds and

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

. 3 to 6

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

are laid from mid-April and incubated for 14 to 15 days. The nest is built over water among reeds or rushes or in a bush. This species is usually monogamous (Leisler & Wink 2000). This is a medium-sized warbler, long, slightly larger than the similar

sedge warbler The sedge warbler (''Acrocephalus schoenobaenus'') is an Old World warbler in the genus '' Acrocephalus''. It is a medium-sized warbler with a brown, streaked back and wings and a distinct pale supercilium. Sedge warblers are migratory, crossing ...

, ''Acrocephalus schoenobaenus''. The adult has a finely streaked brown back and white underparts. The forehead is flattened, there is a prominent whitish supercilium, grey ear coverts, and the bill is strong and pointed. The sexes are identical, as with most warblers, but young birds are more heavily streaked and have markings on the breast. Like most warblers, it is insectivorous and also feeds on water snails. The song is fast and similar to the sedge warbler and

reed warbler The ''Acrocephalus'' warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Acrocephalus''. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh and tree warbler f ...

, with some mimicry and typically acrocephaline whistles added. Its song is softer and more melodious than those of its relatives, and includes phrases reminiscent of the

nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is no ...

. Unlike the sedge warbler, it does not sing in flight.

References

*Leisler, B. & Wink, Michael (2000): Frequencies of multiple paternity in three ''Acrocephalus'' species (Aves: Sylviidae) with different mating systems (''A. palustris, A. arundinaceus, A. paludicola''). ''Ethology, Ecology & Evolution'' 12: 237–249
PDF fulltext
*Snow, David W.; Perrins, Christopher M.; Doherty, Paul & Cramp, Stanley (1998): ''The complete birds of the western Palaearctic on CD-ROM''. Oxford University Press.

External links

Ageing and sexing (PDF; 1.9 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
{{Taxonbar, from=Q385273

moustached warbler The moustached warbler (''Acrocephalus melanopogon'') is an Old World warbler Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the ...

Birds of Europe Birds of North Africa Birds of Central Asia Birds of Western Asia Birds of Armenia Birds of Azerbaijan