Seychelles reed warbler
| Seychelles reed warbler | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Seychelles reed warbler on cousin |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Acrocephalus Sechellensis | ||||||||||||
| ( Oustalet , 1877) |
The Seychelles reed warbler ( Acrocephalus sixellensis ), also known as the Seychelles warbler or Seychelles bush warbler , is a small songbird that is only found on the five islands of Aride , Cousin , Cousine , Île Denis and Frégate within the Seychelles Bank .
description
The Seychelles reed warbler reaches a size of 14 centimeters. The top is olive green, the underside pale yellow-gray. The long legs and long, narrow beak are slate blue. The young birds are darker in color and have a stippled chest. The flight is fluttering and powerless, the song consists of a sweet, soft "szo-a-siih-siih", which is repeated three times.
Habitat and way of life
The Seychelles reed warbler occurs in mangrove swamps , in the undergrowth of the coastal region and in palm groves. The food consists of insects and their larvae, which are captured either in flight or from tree branches, bushes or on the ground. Females and males form monogamous breeding pairs that are highly territorial . The behavior during the breeding and nestling period consists of a complex system of cooperative brood support and the ability to influence the gender ratio of the offspring. The female lays a single egg with brown spots in a nest that is built in a vertical fork of a branch, a bush, mangrove or bamboo at a height of two to five meters. The trough-shaped nest consists of dry plant material. The breeding season is from October to March. The breeding period is about 15 days, the nestling time about 20 to 28 days. In breeding areas with poor food supply, mainly male juveniles are produced, which leave the parental breeding area when they are fully fledged. In good breeding grounds, mostly females are born who stay with their parents for three years and support them as brood helpers in rearing their younger siblings.
status
In 1965 the inventory was reduced to less than 30 copies. The original habitat of the Seychelles reed warbler, dense bushland, had been changed by coconut plantations. In a large-scale rescue operation, the island of Cousin was bought by the International Council for the Protection of Birds (ICBP) in 1968 and declared a strictly protected nature reserve. The coconut plantations have been removed and the growth of endemic trees and shrubs has been encouraged. Thanks to these measures, the inventory increased to 2,060 copies by 1997. Today the population is around 3,500.
literature
- Bruce Campbell : The Great Bird Book. Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 1976.
- Malcolm Penny : The Birds of the Seychelles and the Outlying Islands. Collins, London 1974.
- Adrian Skerrett , Ian Bullock, and T. Disley: Birds of Seychelles. Helm Field Guides, 2001. ISBN 0-7136-3973-3 .
Web links
- Seychelles Endemic Species ( Memento of April 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- Seychelles Warbler on the Nature Seychelles website
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Acrocephalus Sechellensis in the Internet Bird Collection
- Acrocephalus Sechellensis inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019.3. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2019. Retrieved December 27, 2019.