Common grasshopper-warbler

Description

The adult common grasshopper warbler (the name is the IOC recommended English name) has a length of about 12.5 cm (5 in).It is a very secretive bird and seldom seen,but its presence is easily detected because of its characteristic song.The upper-parts are pale olive-brown,each feather having a central darker brown streak.The cheeks are greyish,the irises are brown and there is a faint eye streak behind the eye.The upper mandible of the beak is dark brown and the lower mandible yellowish-brown.The underparts are cream-coloured or yellowish-buff with a few dark brown spots and streaks on the breast and flanks.The wings are brown with the outer edge of the feathers rimmed with paler brown.The tail feathers are reddish-brown with faint transverse bars being visible in some individuals and the under-tail coverts are streaked.The slender legs and the feet are pale yellowish-brown The song is an unmusical long,high-pitched reeling trill performed with beak held wide open and the whole body vibrating.It lasts for from a few seconds to two or three minutes with hardly a pause for breath.It varies in volume from a faint hum to a sound resembling a distant mowing machine.It is performed at any time of day from early morning until after the sun has set and is constantly to be heard from the arrival of the bird in spring until late July.The alarm call is a repeated ticking noise that has been rendered as "twkit-twkit-twkit".