The sedge warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) is a slender, cryptically coloured bird. It is about 13 cm long. We recognise it by the brownish or grayish-white superciliary stripe and a dark stripe that runs across the eyes, and the top of the head is also dark. The throat and chest are dirty white, the flanks and part of the area before the tail are light brown. The tail and the upper surface of the tail are cinnamon brown, the back grayish brown, the wings are dark and light brown striped.
The sedge warbler is a resident of reedbeds and stands of bulrush or sedges by rivers and lakes or in wetlands. It likes to break up stands of reeds or bulrush here and there with a willow shrub. The male sings his lively melody from a raised place, from a branch of a shrub or from a stem of tall reed. In the middle of singing it sometimes rises into the air and quickly returns to its singing perch.
This is a diurnally active species that, from twigs and leaves, collects insects with great precision, which are its main food. In our country it nests in May and June. It builds a cup-shaped nest from plant material and hides it in dense vegetation on the ground or just above ground. The sedge warbler is a migratory bird that winters in Africa, south of the Sahara. It goes there in autumn, September or October, and returns to us with the arrival of spring.
In Slovenia it is regarded as a rare breeder, and on the Red List of threatened birds that breed it is listed in the category of a vulnerable species.
