Bearded Reedling

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Bearded Reedling[1]
Adult male in Kent, England
Adult female in Kent, England
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Panuridae
Des Murs, 1860
Genus: Panurus
Koch, 1816
Species: P. biarmicus
Binomial name
Panurus biarmicus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The Bearded Reedling (Panurus biarmicus) is a small, sexually dimorphic reed-bed passerine bird. It is frequently known as the Bearded Tit, due to some similarities to the Long-tailed Tit, or the Bearded Parrotbill.

Taxonomy

The Bearded Reedling was placed with the parrotbills in the family Paradoxornithidae, after they were removed from the true tits in the family Paridae. However, according to more recent research, it is actually a unique songbird - no other living species seems to be particularly closely related to it. Thus, it seems that the monotypic family Panuridae must again be recognized.

Description

This is a small orange-brown bird with a long tail and an undulating flight. The male has a grey head and black moustaches (not a beard). Flocks often betray their presence in a reedbed by their characteristic "ping" call.

Habitat and distribution

This species is a wetland specialist, breeding colonially in large reed beds by lakes or swamps. It eats reed aphids in summer, and reed seeds in winter, its digestive system changing to cope with the very different seasonal diets.[3]

The Bearded Reedling is a species of temperate Europe and Asia. It is resident, and most birds do not migrate other than eruptive or cold weather movements. It is vulnerable to hard winters, which may kill many birds. The English population of about 500 pairs is largely confined to the south and east with a small population in Leighton Moss in north Lancashire. In Ireland a handful of pairs breed in County Wexford. The largest single population in Great Britain is to be found in the reedbeds at the mouth of the River Tay in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, where there may be in excess of 250 pairs.[4]

  • Juvenile (top), adult males (center) and adult female (front)

  • Flock in natural habitat

  • Three males

  • ID composite

References

  1. ↑ Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds) (2011). "Waxwings to Swallows". IOC World Bird Names (version 2.9). Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011. 
  2. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Panurus biarmicus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013. 
  3. ↑ Robson, Craig (2007). "Family Paradoxornithidae (Parrotbill)". In del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew; Christie, David. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. pp. 292–320. ISBN 978-84-96553-42-2. 
  4. ↑ Forrester R.W. & Andrews I.J Eds (2007) The Birds of Scotland Volume 2 Scottish Ornithologists' Club ISBN 978-0-9512139-0-2

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