Michele Mendi

Trans-Saharan migratory passerine, it breeds from W Europe to Central Siberia (avoids the boreal belt); spends the winter in wetlands across the Sahel and further S (BirdLife International 2021).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendStable
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		4760000-8880000,6410000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Great Reed Warbler

Few recoveries in Africa, so patterns depicted from ring-recovery data majorly concern passage through Europe. Parallel migration: W breeders pass mainly across Iberia/NW Africa; Scandinavian/C European birds move along the C Mediterranean; NE/E populations pass over the Balkans. Geolocator tracking have helped to know pattern in Africa. Birds maintain to a high extent breeding longitudes at their stopover sites and winter quarters (Koleček et al. 2016), giving rise to moderate degree of connectivity. Multiple winter sites within a season relatively frequent (Horns et al. 2016, Koleček et al. 2016, Lemke et al. 2013). Loop migration, following a more E flyway in spring for the E populations, but not for the rest of W/C European populations (Koleček et al. 2016).

Recoveries by Condition for Great Reed Warbler

Most recoveries (92%) due to birds recaptured alive (ringing recovery). Recoveries due to birds found dead were relatively frequent before 1960 (ca. 40%, half of which were birds dead by shot), but nowadays virtually lacking.

Annual Movements for Great Reed Warbler

Departure from breeding quarters mostly from Jul to Aug. Some birds found to fly direct to Africa from their breeding sites, though most make up to 3 main stopovers in autumn (Horns et al. 2016, Koleček et al. 2016). Arrival to winter quarters from Aug to Oct. Departure from Africa spring in Mar, up to late Apr. Passage across S Europe starts in late Mar, obvious in Apr. Arrival to breeding places from Apr to May (N European populations arrive later than their S counterparts).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Great Reed Warbler

See ‘Overall connectivity patterns’.

Juan Arizaga

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
BirdLife International 2021 . Species factsheet: Acrocephalus arundinaceus.
Horns, J. J., Buechley, E., Chynoweth, M., Aktay, L., Çoban, E., Kırpık, M. A., Herman, J. M., Şaşmaz, Y., Şekercioğlu, Ç. H.2016 . Geolocator tracking of Great Reed-Warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) identifies key regions for migratory wetland specialists in the Middle East and sub-Saharan East Africa. Condor 118: 835–849
Koleček, J., Procházka, P., El-Arabany, N., Tarka, M., Ilieva, M., Hahn, S., Honza, M., de la Puente, J., Bermejo, A., Gürsoy, A., Bensch, S., Zehtindjiev, P., Hasselquist, D., Hansson, B.2016 . Cross-continental migratory connectivity and spatiotemporal migratory patterns in the great reed warbler. Journal of Avian Biology 47: 756–767
Lemke, H. W., Tarka, M., Klaassen, R. H. G., Åkesson, M., Bensch, S., Hasselquist, D., Hansson, B.2013 . Annual cycle and migration strategies of a trans-Saharan migratory songbird: A geolocator study in the Great Reed Warbler. PLoS One 8

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