Oriental Reed Warbler      Acrocephalus orientalis 

Etymology:

• Acrocephalus: Greek word akros –topmost, highest; kephale – head.

• Orientalis : From the orient. 

Distribution: Winters in North East India. 

Size Size of 17–19 cm; wt.of 18–47 g . It has a distinct whitish supercilium and dark eyes tripe. The dark patch on lores is variable in extent, often just a spot before eye. The plumage is warmish olive-brown above, paler below, with whitish throat and belly, warm buffish wash on flanks and vent. It has streaking on sides of neck and breast, and well-defined whitish tips of outer rectrices. The iris is dark greyish to dark brown; bill is dark brown above, pinkish-flesh below, gape is pinkish; legs are lead-grey. Both the sexes are alike. The juvenile is similar to adult, but differs in having margins of secondaries, tertials and to some extent greater upperwing-coverts often a warmer buffier shade, underparts sometimes with slight yellowish tinge and more richly washed tawny-buff.

Habitat: It is found in beds of reed beside lakes, coastal marshes, estuaries, along rivers and ditches, also tall grass and bushes. It is found from lowlands to 1000 m.

Food habits:  It eats Insects and arachnids, and some small water snails and small vertebrates. It forages mainly in dense vegetation.

Breeding habits: They  breed in May–Jul. The nest is a deep, cylindrical cup of woven grass stalks, various stems and reed flowers, lined chiefly with very thin, elastic long fragments of stalks, built above water, mud or dry ground and attached to vertical reed stems. They lay a clutch of 3–6 eggs. The incubation period is 12–14 days. The chicks are usually fed by both parents. The nestling period is 10–15 days.