Eurasian River Warbler

About the Eurasian River Warbler

The river warbler (Locustella fluviatilis) is an Old World warbler in the genus Locustella. It breeds in eastern and central Europe and is migratory, wintering in inland southern Africa, from around the Zambezi River south to the vicinity of Pretoria in South Africa.

The genus name Locustella is from Latin and is a diminutive of locusta, "grasshopper". This refers to the song of the common grasshopper warbler and some others in this genus. The specific fluviatilis is Latin for "of a river".

It is a monotypic species, meaning it has no subspecies. This is a largish warbler. The adult has an unstreaked grey-brown back, whitish grey underparts, and a darker undertail, which has white feather tips giving a contrasting pattern. The sexes are identical, as with most warblers, but young birds are yellower below. Some birds can show reduced dark markings on the undertail coverts (caused by more extensive than usual white tips) and thus are closer in appearance to Savi's warbler than typical river warblers. However, they typically still have a streaked breast and more olive colouration on the upperparts.

This is a skulking species which is very... Wikipedia →