Moustached Warbler - Acrocephalus melanopogon

In the morning of Thusrday 21 April 2016 Bram Ubels and Jillis Roos were ringing birds for the CES-Project at the Ooijse Graaf, in the Ooijpolder, a very birdy place east of the city of Nijmegen Gld. At first light one of the first birds in the net was a Reed Warbler like bird which turned out to be a Moustached Warbler Acrocephalus melanopogon, a first for the Netherlands. News was spread, but the location was off limits, so nobody was given entrance. However, the reed bed where the bird was captured and released was visible from a public road and when it appeared the bird had started to sing in the evening, a large crowd of c 100 birders gathered the next day. The bird had not left and was heard singing with interruptions the whole day and with the help of the paraboles of Arnoud van den Berg and Thijs Fijen, everybody could heard the bird. Some lucky birders even saw the warbler for a short period. As we do count heard-onlies in the Netherlands, everybody accepted the fact we could not get closer to have a slight chance to see the bird.

21 April 2016, Ooijse Graaf, Berg en Dal Gld; © Harvey van Diek.
Note the broad whitish supercilium broadening behind the eye and square ending, the black side-crown, the black eye-stripe and short moustachial stripe and the contrasting white throat.

21 April 2016, Ooijse Graaf, Berg en Dal Gld; © Erik Ernens.
Always good to compare with a good field guide! Note the plain breast and flanks.

6 March 2024, Grebbedijk, Rhenen U; © Jaap Denee.

In March 2024, the third record of Moustached Warbler gave every birder the opportunity to see this species. I saw it on 6 March 2024 too.

For a good sound recording of the 2016 bird, go the sound gallery of the Dutch Birding site.

Go to the main-index, the 2016-index or the next new species, the Lanceolated Warbler?