Pipe hammer

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Pipe hammer
Reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus), male (above) and female (below)

Reed bunting ( Emberiza schoeniclus ), male (above) and female (below)

Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Superfamily : Passeroidea
Family : Bunting (Emberizidae)
Genre : Ammern ( Emberiza )
Type : Pipe hammer
Scientific name
Emberiza schoeniclus
( Linnaeus , 1758)
A reed hammer with food
Females in splendid dress with food in their beak
Males in splendid plumage with food in their beak
Rohrammer, Finland
male

The Reed Bunting ( Emberiza schoeniclus ), also Rohrspatz called, is a bird art from the family of the buntings (Emberizidae). It is a breeding bird from Europe and North Africa to East Asia and is only absent on some Mediterranean islands. It is particularly common in reed and sedge areas. She is a partial puller in Central Europe . Most birds leave Central Europe in October / November and return in February and March. Their winter quarters extend as far as North Africa.

features

The reed hammer reaches a body length of 13 to 16 centimeters. The male's head and throat are black in their splendid dress , the striking, wide neck band is white, the back is striped with dark brown, the rump is grayish, the underside is grayish-light. After the autumn moult , this contrasting color is covered by gray feather edges and reappears in the course of winter after the feather edges have worn out. The female has brown stripes with a black and white beard stripe and a light stripe above the eyes, the underside lighter. It can be on the course is difficult to determine, especially when one encounters it alone.

Young birds resemble the adult female. The nestlings initially have soot-black downs on their head, upper body and stomach for a long time . The throat and tongue are pink, while the edges and tip of the tongue are whitish pink. The beak ridges are yellowish white.

Possible confusion

There are possibilities of confusion with the dwarf and wood bunting . The wood hammer, however, has maroon stripes on its flanks and chest and has a reddish brown rump and a white spot on the ear covers. The bunting is smaller, has a maroon face mask and pale circles under the eyes.

Distribution area

Distribution of the reed bunting:
  • Breeding areas
  • Year-round occurrence
  • migration
  • Wintering areas

    • The distribution area of ​​the reed bunting extends over Eurasia . In the north it extends to Scandinavia and central Siberia, in the east the limit of distribution is in Japan and Kamchatka . The species is also found as a breeding bird in northwest China , Iran , Turkey , the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco . She is a part migrant and winters in southern and western Europe, in the Mediterranean area and in southern and eastern Asia. The reed bunting is a rare breeding bird on the African continent. Only four places in Morocco are known where this species has so far brooded. Occasionally she reaches the north of Egypt as a stray visitor.

    The reed bunting occurs all year round along the Danube and between the Black and Caspian Seas , north of the mentioned areas it is only found during the breeding season and winters in southern Europe . While most insectivorous migratory birds migrate during the night, the reed bunting migrates like other seed-eaters during the day.

    habitat

    The reed bunting is a characteristic bird of the wetlands and lives in medium to large areas of reeds and reeds, on the edges of water bodies with bushes, grassy swamps with interspersed bushes and in willow thickets in swampy meadows. In autumn she sometimes goes to harvested corn and grain fields, where she looks for food - often together with finches and sparrows .

    On the train and in the wintering areas , it spends time on lake shores and in wetlands. However, it is also often found far away from water and looks for food in agricultural areas, in forest clearings and in sand dunes.

    Way of life

    You can often see reed wedges roaming around in jerky flight or sitting in an elevated place - often at an angle on a stalk - with their tails spread, when they recite their song , which has given rise to the saying like a reed sparrow . The call is drawn out and emphatically high and harsh.

    food

    The reed bunting feeds primarily on grass seeds and, in summer, on small insects, snails and worms. It mostly looks for food on the ground and can then often be observed in reed stands as well as on moist grassland and pastures. Occasionally it also looks for food in the lower area of ​​bushes and trees that stand on the banks of the water. The reed bunting is very easy to move while foraging. Occasionally it even catches insects in flight. Very often it hangs up in a detached control room.

    During the breeding season, the reed bunting feeds mainly on invertebrates. Two-winged birds , caterpillars, beetles, spiders, dragonflies and jumpers play a special role . After the breeding season, grass seeds dominate, but invertebrates are still eaten opportunistically.

    Reproduction

    Emberiza schoeniclus

    The courtship consists largely of a quick chase that often ends in a violent scuffle. In order to impress the female, the male occasionally erects his striking white collar, which is in stark contrast to the black head.

    Reeds breed on the edge of reed and reed stands, in bank bushes and, more rarely, far away from water in high, dense vegetation such as rapeseed fields. The cup-shaped nest is built so that it is well hidden in the vegetation. It is either close to the ground under overhanging old grass or up to a meter high in a bush. Only the female is involved in the construction, accompanied by the male. It used grass, sedges, rushes and moss. The actual nesting trough is padded with fine grass, animal hair and reeds.

    The clutch usually comprises 4–6 eggs. The eggs, like many ammer eggs, are drawn with peculiar flourishes and doodles on a variable base color. The breeding season is 12-14 days, only the female parent bird breeds. The nestling period lasts between 12 and 15 days. The breeding season is from April to July. In Central Europe and Great Britain, reed hammers usually raise two broods, in Scandinavia, however, usually only one annual brood.

    Some males are not monogamous, but tend to several nests, each with a female sitting on its brood. In order to divert the attention of predators from their nest, reed wedges entice them to flutter along the ground as if they were lame-winged - a feint that small birds sitting on elevated waiting areas usually do not use.

    The reproductive success of reed hammers is not very high, very many clutches fall victim to predators . In a study carried out in England, only twenty young birds flew out of 100 nests. Out of a total of 1,846 eggs that were laid, only 67 percent hatched nestlings and thirty percent of these fledged.

    Subspecies

    The subspecies recognized by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System are:

    • Emberiza schoeniclus caspia Ménétriés , 1832
    • Emberiza schoeniclus centralasiae Hartert , 1904
    • Emberiza schoeniclus harterti Sushkin , 1906
    • Emberiza schoeniclus incognita ( Zarudny , 1917)
    • Emberiza schoeniclus intermedia Degland , 1849 - Corsica, Italy and Adriatic coast. Part of this population winters in Algeria and Tunisia.
    • Emberiza schoeniclus korejewi ( Zarudny , 1907)
    • Emberiza schoeniclus pallidior Hartert , 1904
    • Emberiza schoeniclus parvirostris Buturlin , 1910
    • Emberiza schoeniclus passerina Pallas , 1771
    • Emberiza schoeniclus pyrrhulina ( Swinhoe , 1876)
    • Emberiza schoeniclus pyrrhuloides Pallas , 1811
    • Emberiza schoeniclus reiseri Hartert , 1904
    • Emberiza schoeniclus schoeniclus ( Linnaeus , 1758)
    • Emberiza schoeniclus stresemanni F. Steinbacher , 1930
    • Emberiza schoeniclus tschusii Reiser & Almásy , 1898 - Danube valley in Bulgaria and Romania to the south of Ukraine
    • Emberiza schoeniclus ukrainae ( Zarudny , 1917)
    • Emberiza schoeniclus witherbyi From Jordans , 1923 - Iberian Peninsula and southern France
    • Emberiza schoeniclus zaidamensis Portenko , 1929

    literature

    Web links

    Commons : Rohrammer  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
    Wiktionary: Rohrammer  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

    Single receipts

    1. ^ Harrison et al., P. 444.
    2. ^ Fry et al., P. 596.
    3. ^ Fry et al., P. 597.
    4. ^ Fry et al., P. 597.
    5. ^ Harrison et al., P. 444.
    6. ↑ Bezzel, p. 525.
    7. ↑ Fry et al., P. 598.