Common reed warbler
Acrocephalus scirpaceus (Hermann, 1804)
The common reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) is a bird in the family Acrocephalidae, part of the songbirds and other perching birds subgroup in the order Passeriformes. It is a small, migratory, perching bird of wetland habitats with an adult body mass of 12.3 g and a wingspan of 19 cm.
Quick facts about the common reed warbler
It is an invertivore at the carnivore trophic level, and its clutches hold 3.9 eggs, incubated for 11.5 days, with 1.5 clutches per year. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category, and its geographic range covers 15,110,000 km².
- Weight
- 11.8 g – 12.3 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 19 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 12.5 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 14 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 11.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.9src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.5src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the common reed warbler?
Photos of the common reed warbler
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the common reed warbler live?
Not recorded
What is the common reed warbler?
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.
From the Wikipedia article “Common reed warbler” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Common_reed_warbler&oldid=1374039650), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the common reed warbler sound like?
Is the common reed warbler endangered?
The common reed warbler is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the common reed warbler classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyAcrocephalidae
- genusAcrocephalus
- SpeciesAcrocephalus scirpaceus (Hermann, 1804)
Synonyms Acrocephalus scirpaceus crassirostris, Acrocephalus scirpaceus strepera, Acrocephalus scirpeus, Acrocephalus streperus, Notiocichla scirpacea, Salicaria strepera, Sollicitus scirpaceus scirpaceus, Sylvia strepera, Turdus scirpaceus
Other names and names in other languages (106)
- African reed warblerEnglish
- African reed-warblerEnglish
- Common reed-warblerEnglish
- Eurasian reed warblerEnglish
- Eurasian reed warblerEnglish
- Eurasian reed warblerEnglish
- Eurasian reed-warblerEnglish
- European reed warblerEnglish
- Reed warblerEnglish
- KleinrietsangerAfrikaans
- Afrikaanse RietsangerAfrikaans
- Hermanse RietsangerAfrikaans
- HermansrietsangerAfrikaans
- دخلة القصبArabic
- هازجة القصب الأوراسيةArabic
- هازجة القصب الأوروبيةArabic
- carriceraAsturian
- Çəmən qamışcılAzerbaijani
- Трысняговая чаротаўкаBelarusian
- Блатно шаварчеBulgarian
- Rouzegan-korzBreton
- Boscarla de canyaCatalan
- boscarla de canyarCatalan
- АмыжгекMari
- rákosník obecnýCzech
- rákosník africkýCzech
- Telor CyrsWelsh
- telor y cyrsWelsh
- Telorion y CyrsWelsh
- RørsangerDanish
- TeichrohrsängerGerman
- GartenrohrsängerGerman
- ΚαλαμοποταμίδαGreek
- ΚαλαμομουγιούδιGreek
- KanbirdoEsperanto
- ordinara kanbirdoEsperanto
- Carricero comúnSpanish
- Carricero AfricanoSpanish
- tiigi-roolindEstonian
- Lezkari arruntBasque
- سسک نیزار معمولیPersian
- rytikerttunenFinnish
- RoyljómariFaroese
- Rousserolle africaineFrench
- rousserolle effarvatteFrench
- Ceolaire giolcaíIrish
- cuilceagScottish Gaelic
- ceòlain-chuilcScottish Gaelic
- Ceòlan cuilcScottish Gaelic
- ceòlan-cuilcScottish Gaelic
- cuilceaganScottish Gaelic
- Folosa das canaveirasGalician
- GuilckagManx
- קנית קטנהHebrew
- cserregő nádiposzátaHungarian
- Եղեգնուտի Եղեգնա ռչնակArmenian
- SefsöngvariIcelandic
- CannaiolaItalian
- ヨアロッパヨシキリJapanese
- アフリカヨシキリJapanese
- ヨーロッパヨシキリJapanese
- ბაღის ლელწამაGeorgian
- Қамыс айқабағыKazakh
- Telor corsCornish
- Klenge JäizertLuxembourgish
- mažoji krakšlėLithuanian
- ezera ķauķisLatvian
- ezeru ķauķisLatvian
- Трскар шеварMacedonian
- трскар рогозарMacedonian
- Bagħal tal-QasabMaltese
- AfrikarørsangerNorwegian Bokmål
- kleine karekietDutch
- KortvleugelkarekietDutch
- røyrsongarNorwegian Nynorsk
- Trzcinniczek zwyczajnyPolish
- TrzcinniczekPolish
- trzcinniczek (zwyczajny)Polish
- rouxinol-pequeno-dos-caniçosPortuguese
- Rouxinol-dos-caniçosPortuguese
- Lăcar de stufRomanian
- Тростниковая камышевкаRussian
- Тростниковая камышовкаRussian
- Африканская тростниковая камышовкаRussian
- RávraruoššehasNorthern Sami
- guodjavizarNorthern Sami
- trsteniarik bahennýSlovak
- srpična trstnicaSlovenian
- çika e verdhëAlbanian
- bilbilthi i kallamaveAlbanian
- çika e kallamishteveAlbanian
- rogozhari ciceruesAlbanian
- Trstenjak cvrkutićSerbian
- Трстењак цвркутићSerbian
- rörsångareSwedish
- afrikansk rörsångareSwedish
- Shoro-mateteSwahili
- saz bülbülüTurkish
- Saz KamışçınıTurkish
- очеретянка ставковаUkrainian
- Pàssara canarèlaVenetian
- Klein'n karekieteZeelandic
- 芦莺Chinese
- 芦苇莺Chinese
- 蘆葦鶯Chinese
- 蘆葦鶯〔歐葦鶯〕Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the common reed warbler
Other species in the same genus Acrocephalus.
Great reed warbler
Acrocephalus arundinaceus
Sedge warbler
Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
Aquatic warbler
Acrocephalus paludicola
Marsh warbler
Acrocephalus palustris
Blyth's reed warbler
Acrocephalus dumetorum
Paddyfield warbler
Acrocephalus agricola
CompareCommon reed warbler vs Great reed warblerCommon reed warbler vs Sedge warblerCommon reed warbler vs Aquatic warblerCommon reed warbler vs Marsh warbler
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the common reed warbler?
The common reed warbler is a bird in the family Acrocephalidae, within the songbirds and other perching birds subgroup.
How big is the common reed warbler?
It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 12.3 g and a wingspan of 19 cm.
What does the common reed warbler eat?
It has an invertivore diet and sits at the carnivore trophic level.
What habitat does the common reed warbler use?
It lives in wetland habitats, where it is a perching bird, and it is migratory.
Is the common reed warbler endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
How long does the common reed warbler live?
Its lifespan is given as 12.45 years, with values up to 14 years reported.
How many eggs does the common reed warbler lay?
Its clutches hold 3.9 eggs, with 1.5 clutches per year and an incubation period of 11.5 days.
Who named the common reed warbler?
Its scientific name, Acrocephalus scirpaceus, carries the authority (Hermann, 1804).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Common reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-reed-warbler
“Common reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-reed-warbler.
@misc{common_reed_warbler_2026,
title = {Common reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-reed-warbler},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}