Little known non-migrant birds
Photos: Arne Ader
Translation: Liis
Beraded reedling (male)
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Bearded reedling; Bearded tit |
Roohabekas ehk roovilbas |
A very beautiful non-migratory bird that regrettably only few have come across. The ideal terrain for bearded reedlings is reed beds, both in sea bays and at freshwater shores. Visibility is limited and the movement of humans cumbersome in the reed beds but along the plank paths of hiking trails they can be seen. When the bearded reedlings move they always do so as a group; sometimes the birds are revealed by their clicking-pinging calls.
Bearded reedlings were first seen in Estonia in 1978. A few years later they were already breeding in the Matsalu reed banks and to-day in suitable habitats all over Estonia. Some birds migrate southwards but about a thousand birds may stay to winter here.
Something must be said about the remarkable looks. The female and the male are easily distinguished. Plumage colour of both sexes is beautifully rusty-toned yellow, a somewhat darker, stepwise lengthening tail with a rounded tip and white outside feathers. The male bird’s head is bluish grey, between the beak and eye an impressive black beard streak begins; the chest is white and the undertail feathers black. The female bird’s head is the same colour as the back; other differences you can see in Arne’s photos. Attention should be drawn to the long and strong claws on the feet, the best tools for climbing on the reed straws.
In the reed beds many insect species live that the bearded reedlings feed on. How do the insect-eaters manage in winter? According to scientists the stomach lining of the birds strengthens during autumn and they swallow around five hundred little gravel grains and so are able to switch to a seed diet. Winter food is mainly seeds of common reed; the hard seeds of clubrushes are utilised from January onwards. In spring the „millstone“ gravel is eliminated, the stomach walls return to their normal state and the birds switch to an insect diet at the first opportunity.
Bearded reedlings
The photo shows a male, a female and a young bird.
Bearded reedling
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