Aquatic warbler in Polissia
Acrocephalus paludicola
Red Data Book of Ukraine: endangered
The aquatic warbler is a small songbird the size of a sparrow. It is buff-brown with dark streaks along the back and a distinct pale stripe along the middle of the crown. It is precisely this stripe that distinguishes it from the similar sedge warbler.
The aquatic warbler lives only in open lowland sedge fens with low vegetation and shallow water. A large part of its world population breeds in Polissia. In Ukraine it occurs, among other places, in Prypiat-Stokhid National Park, and in Belarusian Polesie one of its largest populations lives in the Zvanets fen.
Males sing from the tops of sedges at dawn and towards evening. The birds do not form pairs: the female builds the nest and raises the chicks on her own. The aquatic warbler winters in West Africa.
The aquatic warbler is one of the rarest songbirds in Europe and is listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine. It suffers from bog drainage, spring grass burning and the encroachment of shrubs on sedge fens, so preserving the open bogs of Polissia is crucial for it.
When to see: May–July, singing at dawn and in the evening
Where it was seen in Polissia
Observations from the open scientific database GBIF since 1990. Locations are shown approximately, to within 10 km.
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