26

Great Reed Warblers are the largest European warblers. They have an off-white throat and otherwise creamy front. The cap, ear coverts and back are brown to greyish-brown, with darker grey-brown flight feathers and tail than the rest. Their most distinguishing feature is that they have prominent creamy supercilia extending from the base of the bill to well behind the eyes. The eyes have brown irises. The relatively long bill is visibly stronger than that of other, similar species. It is almost straight, with a dark-grey upper mandible, while the lower mandible is horn-coloured, with a dark-grey tip. The legs and feet are dark-grey.

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 Great Reed Warbler is available HERE .

Great Reed Warblers are a migratory Eurasian species. They breed throughout most of temperate Europe, up to about 55 degrees latitude, and eastward into western and southern central Asia. They winter in sub-Saharan Africa. During their migration they can be found in the eastern Mediterranean, Asia Minor, the Middle East and North Africa.

In Europe they are found only during their breeding season, basically everywhere southward of the North Sea and southern Scandinavia, except the major mountain ranges. In areas within that range where they don't breed (mostly regions in western Europe where no suitable wetland habitats are left) they can be found during their migration.

Great Reed Warblers have a preference for wetlands with tall reeds during their breeding season. In their wintering grounds and during migration they are also found in bush thickets and rice fields.

S. Cuturilov reports spotting a Great Reed Warbler near Temerin, Serbia, in July 2017. A. Sarok found a Great Reed Warbler in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024.

J. Pires reports finding Great Reed Warblers occasionally in the area from Mora, Evora, Portugal, to the Tejo estuary. The species was also found along the Rio Tejo, Portas de Rodao, Centro de Portugal, Portugal, in May 2018.

D. Wilczynska found a Great Reed Warbler at Lomza, Podlachia, Poland, in May 2020.