Large-billed reed warbler

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Large-billed reed warbler
An adult large-billed reed warbler caught at breeding grounds in the Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Acrocephalidae
Genus: Acrocephalus
Species:
A. orinus
Binomial name
Acrocephalus orinus
Oberholser
, 1905
Distribution of Large-billed Reed Warbler
  Breeding
  Non-breeding

The large-billed reed warbler (Acrocephalus orinus) is an

Acrocephalus dumetorum specimens in the collections of the Natural History Museum at Tring.[3] A breeding area was found in Afghanistan in 2009 and studies in 2011 pointed to its breeding in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. One bird was found in the Baikka Wetland in Srimangal, Bangladesh on 7 December 2011.[4]

Description

Primary tip shape

This species has the upper plumage and visible portions of wings and tail olive-brown while the underside is pale creamy with the underwing and axillaries paler.

The length is about 5 in (130 mm) with the tail being 2.3 in (58 mm) and the wing 2.4 in (61 mm) long. The tarsus is 0.85 in (22 mm) while the bill from

gape is 0.8 in (20 mm). The first primary measures 0.35 in (8.9 mm) while the second is intermediate in length between the ninth and tenth. The closed tail appears graduated with the difference between the longest and shortest feathers being 0.4 in (10 mm). The type specimen was obtained in the Sutlej valley ("Sukedje valley"[5]) not far from Rampur.[6]

The upper mandible is dark, but the cutting edges and entire lower mandible are pale. The tarsi, toes and claws appear pale brown. The hind claw is longer than in

A. concinens
. The primary tips are broad and rather squarer. Recent observers note that it has a habit of fanning out its tail open as it forages.

The specimens from Afghanistan and Kazakhstan suggest that they breed in Central Asia and moult indicates that they migrate along the Himalayas to winter in northern India and Southeast Asia. Sequence variation points to a stable or shrinking population structure.[7]

History

It was first collected by

W N Koelz from Zebak.[12]

Rediscovery

On 27 March 2006 a living specimen was caught at the

Phetchaburi, Thailand by ornithologist Philip Round of Mahidol University. The bird was ringed and two feathers were extracted; DNA from them was found to match the DNA of the 1867 specimen.[13][14]

Based on the short and rounded wings, earlier studies had suggested that the species was likely to be a short-distant migrant or a resident. The rediscoveries of a second museum specimen from a different location and the wild specimen from Thailand suggest that this may not be so.

Some field identifications from West Bengal and central India were subsequently reported based on behaviour,[15] but captured specimens did not appear to match the species.[16]

A breeding site of the large-billed reed warbler, Acrocephalus orinus, was discovered in the Wakhan Corridor of the Pamir of north-eastern Afghanistan by researcher Robert Timmins of the Wildlife Conservation Society, who was studying avian communities in the Pamir Mountains. He came across a small brown warbler and recorded its song. Dr. Timmins did not realize the importance of his discovery until he visited a Natural History Museum in Tring, England. There he examined a specimen of a large-billed reed warbler, which looked identical to the bird he had seen and recorded.

A team of ornithologists, including Afghan scientists of the Wildlife Conservation Society, confirmed his discovery by capturing, sampling and releasing almost 20 specimens of the bird in 2009, the largest number ever recorded, using a combination of field observations, museum specimens, DNA sequencing, and also the first known audio recording of the species that were already made in 2008.[17][18][19][20][21]

A study by Russian ornithologists in 2011 indicated that the species had been misidentified as A. dumetorum in museum collections and that the species may be breeding in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, eastern Uzbekistan and south-eastern Kazakhstan.

Panj river valley, Tajikistan.[23]

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2022). "Acrocephalus orinus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T22729551A210090585. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  2. ^ BirdLife report
  3. ^ Birdlife International Accessed March 2007
  4. ^ "Rare Bird in Baikka Wetland", Daily Prothom Alo Archived 2012-01-07 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Baker, EC Stuart (1930). Fauna of British Indian Birds. Volume 7 (2nd ed.). Taylor and Francis, London. p. 170.
  6. ^ Oates, E. W. (1889) Fauna of British India. Birds. Volume 1.
  7. doi:10.1111/j.1600-048x.2008.04634.x
    .
  8. ^ Hume, A. 1869. Ibis 2 (5): 355–357 (no title).
  9. ^ Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. & Inskipp, T. 1998. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. London: A. & C. Black.
  10. ^ Vaurie, C. (1955) Systematic Notes on Palearctic Birds. No. 18:Supplementary Notes on Corvidae, Timaliinae, Alaudidae, Sylviinae, Hirundinidae, and Turdinae. American Museum Novitates. 1753 [1]
  11. ^ Bensch, S and D. Pearson (2002) The Large-billed Reed Warbler Acrocephalus orinus revisited. Ibis (2002), 144:259–267 PDF Archived 2007-11-27 at the Wayback Machine Nucleotide sequence
  12. doi:10.1111/j.1600-048x.2008.04634.x
    .
  13. ^ The Nation, Bird comes back from the dead Archived 2007-05-27 at the Wayback Machine, 7 March 2007
  14. JSTOR 30243817
    .
  15. ^ Raju, David, Praveen J. & Mike Prince (2009) A possible record of Large-billed Reed-warbler Acrocephalus orinus from Kanha Tiger Reserve, central India. Indian Birds 4(4):130-133
  16. ^ Raju, DR, S Balachandran, Praveen J, CR Sarath & Mike Prince (2009) More news on the Acrocephalus warblers at Kanha Tiger Reserve. Indian Birds 5(2):46-47
  17. ^ "'World's least known bird' found breeding in Afghanistan"
  18. ^ """World's Least Known Bird" breeding site discovered in Afghanistan"". Archived from the original on 2015-03-21. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
  19. ^ Timmins RJ; Naqueebullah Mostafawi; Ali Madad Rajabi; Hafizullah Noori; Stephane Ostrowski; Urban Olsson; Lars Svensson; Colin M. Poole (2009). "The discovery of Large-billed Reed Warblers Acrocephalus orinus in north-eastern Afghanistan" (PDF). BirdingASIA. 12: 42–45. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-11.
  20. S2CID 89582456
    .
  21. S2CID 86100765
    .
  22. PMID 21526114
    .
  23. ^ Kvartalnov P.V.; Samotskaya V.V.; Abdulnazarov A.G. (2011). "From museum collections to live birds" (PDF). Priroda (in Russian) (12): 56–58.

External links

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