Appearance:

Adult male easily recognized by black throat and strong white moustache stripes. Female often also with black spotted throat which, together with the moustache stripe and pale chest/belly, makes it easy to distinguish from other Sylvia. Females and immatures with pure white throat may be confused with female Sardinian Warbler, but show darker front half of head, paler and purer coloured belly and flanks (lacking brownish tinge) and white fringes to greater coverts and tertials (less obvious in worn plumage). For all plumages look for curved culmen, pointed bill and longer and squarer tail than Sardinian Warbler. Build more similar to Whitethroat than Sardinian Warbler, and also less agile than smaller Sylvia.

Sound:

Alarm call a rolling "trrrrrrrrt", similar to Spectacled Warbler, but less confluent (fewer pulses pr. sec.). Not as hard as corresponding call of Sardinian Warbler. Song a rapid mix of rolling alarm call type syllables, with interwoven single whistling notes. Rolling clearly softer than in Sardinian Warbler and often dominates the song with sequences of up to one second, giving it a very hectic feel. Each phrase rarely more than 2 seconds long. Some geographical variation exist and individuals with less rolling song easier to confuse with Sardinian and Cyprus Warbler.

Song (with extensive rolling), alarm, song:

Distribution:

Xeno-canto: map

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

CC

CC-photo:Oscar en Jolanda Balm, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Arie en Anneke Kolders, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Arie Kolders, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Mick Sway, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Plain and characterless warbler with secretive behaviour. Larger than Sedge Warbler, with larger wings, broader tail and tail-base. Very similar to Marsh Warbler, and very hard to distinguish by plumage alone. Rump of Reed warbler warm rufous brown, warm buff flanks (yellowish tinge in Marsh Warbler), and slightly longer and more pointed bill. Differs from Blyth's Reed Warbler by longer primary projection, yellowish lower mandible and paler legs. Juveniles especially hard to identify, because of even fainter plumage field marks. Attached to reed beds.

Sound:

By far easiest to identify by song: Characteristic, almost metric and even rhythm, very different from Sedge Warbler. Squeaky timbre with many, almost bizarre, harmonics. Phrases generally repeated 2-3 times. Alarm call a harsh, dry and rolling "kraaaat".

Song:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC