Moustached Warbler

The moustached warbler is an Old World warbler 12–13 cm long, slightly smaller than the sedge warbler. The adult has a finely streaked brown back and white underparts, a flattened forehead, a prominent whitish eyebrow, grey ear coverts and a strong pointed bill; the sexes are identical, but young birds are more heavily streaked with markings on the breast. It breeds in southern Europe and southern temperate Asia with a few in north-west Africa (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is partially migratory: south-west European birds are resident, south-east European birds winter in the Mediterranean breeding range and the Asiatic race migrates to Arabia, India and Pakistan. Three to six eggs are laid from mid-April, incubated by both sexes for 13 to 15 days, and the young become independent 18–22 days after fledging. The song is fast, like the sedge and reed warblers', with some mimicry, softer and more melodious than its relatives' and reminiscent of the nightingale. SoIB 2023 lists it as a winter migrant of wetland that eats invertebrates, without a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).