Acrocephalus baeticatus
Silhouette: Yves Hoebeke · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The common reed warbler or Eurasian reed-warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) is an Old World warbler in the genus Acrocephalus. It breeds across Europe into the temperate western Palaearctic where it is migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. It is also a resident species over large parts of Africa.
The common reed warbler was formally described in 1804 by the French naturalist Johann Hermann under the binomial name Turdus scirpaceus. The type locality is Alsace. The common reed warbler is now one of around 40 species placed in the genus Acrocephalus that was introduced by Johann Andreas Naumann and his son Johann Friedrich Naumann in 1811. The genus name Acrocephalus is from Ancient Greek akros, "highest", and kephalē, "head". It is possible that the Naumanns thought akro- meant "sharp-pointed," as in ἄκρα (akra, 'end, point'). The specific scirpaceus is from Latin and means "belonging to the bulrushes" (scirpus).
Ten subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an African Reed-Warbler sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 111th most-seen of the 196 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December to February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an African Reed-Warbler in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in March to November, the lowest months. Those are among Cape Town's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 140 mm in June.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Reed-Warbler sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Cape Town, in our data
Cape Town is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate African Reed-Warbler sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Reed-Warbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Cape Town (11 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
