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Bearded Reedling
(Panurus biarmicus)
: "Bearded Tit", "Long-tailed Tit", "Bearded Parrotbill"
German name(s): "Bartmeise"
Size: 14-15.5 cm
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Physical description |
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Click here for a physical description
Bearded Reedlings are small, roughly tit-sized birds with very long tails.
Their plumage is
dimorphic, i.e.
males and
females
are different.
Apart from the fact that
females
have somewhat duller colours,
the body plumage
of both sexes is almost identical, but males have distinctly
different heads compared to females.
Male
Bearded Reedlings a mostly grey head, with a narrow white
frons and a white chin patch that is flanked by two prominent
black "moustache"-like marks from the lores down to the sides
of the throat.
Females
have a mostly greyish-brown head with a grey chin patch.
Females
can have striation on both cap and back.
The rest of the body of both sexes is brownish to greyish-brown
from mantle to tail, while the front is more greyish, with
sandy sides. The wings are also brown to greyish-brown, with
dark grey on the inside of the flight feathers and light-grey
on the outside (leading edges).
Both sexes have orange irises and a small, slightly downcurved
orange bill. The legs and feet are black.
Juvenile
males have a black back, which distinguishes them from
females.
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Taxonomy, classification |
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See Bearded
Reedling at Wikipedia .
Click here for classification information
Originally thought to be related to the tits (see alternate names),
Bearded Reedlings are now known to be more closely
related to the larks.
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Range, habitat, finding this species |
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Click here for information on habitat
and range
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and
specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found,
based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to
ebird.org
.
The global distribution of the Bearded Reedling is available
HERE
.
Bearded Reedlings are an uncommon, mostly sedentary species.
Locally they can be dispersive.
Their range extends roughly from parts of southern and western
Europe to eastern and south-eastern Europe and further to the
East, into temperate Asia, as far to the East as Mongolia and
northern China.
In western Europe Bearded Reedlings are found in only a few
selected sites on the British Isles, on the French coast of
the Bay of Biscaye, on
the Cote d'Azure and in some locations in north-eastern Spain.
They are rare in central Europe, but are found in the lower Po
river plains in northern Italy and in some coastal sites in
the Netherlands and, via the Danish and German Baltic Sea
coastal regions, into Poland. In Poland Bearded Reedlings are
more common, because there - and in some coastal areas of the
Baltic States - there are many more suitable wetlands. Apart
from some suitable locations in Greece, Bearded Reedlings are
found most commonly along the river Danube, along the North
coast of the Black Sea and, most prominently (hence the
scientific name) in Bjarmaland (Arkhangelsk Oblast in
south-western Russia), between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
Bearded Reedlings, as their name suggests, are very selective
in their choice of habitat. They are found only in large reed
beds in extended wetlands. Therefore, within their overall
range, their distribution is patchy.
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Sightings |
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Click here for sighting information
A. Sarok reports spotting a Bearded Reedling 5 km North of Temerin,
Serbia, in December 2016.
S. Cuturilov reports spotting Bearded Reedlings near Temerin,
Serbia, in July 2017.
A Bearded Reedling
was caught, ringed and photographed by S. Cuturilov in Ovcarsko-Kablarski
Canyon, near Cacak, Serbia, in October 2017.
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Photos |
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ADULT |
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MALE |
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Near-lateral view of a male Bearded Reedling (photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[5 km North of Temerin, Serbia, December 2016]
Lateral view of a male Bearded Reedling with its wings spread
(photo courtesy of S. Cuturilov)
[Ovcarsko-Kablarski Canyon, near Cacak, Serbia, October 2017]
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FEMALE |
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Female Bearded Reedling, top, with a juvenile male, bottom
(photo courtesy of S. Cuturilov)
[Near Temerin, Serbia, July 2017]
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IMMATURE/JUVENILE |
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Juvenile male Bearded Reedling, bottom, with a female, top;
note the hint black on the back of the juvenile
(photo courtesy of S. Cuturilov)
[Near Temerin, Serbia, July 2017]
These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our
contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species
please refer to a field guide.