Bearded Reedling (Panurus biarmicus) [XC863951]
by Paul Kelly from Tacumshin Lake (East End), County Wexford, Ireland (call)
Bearded Reedling (Panurus biarmicus) [XC881087]
by Ante Strand from Vendelsj\u00f6n, Uppland, Netherlands (call)
Nest
A deep cup of dead reed leaves, low down, lined with reed flowers and feathers.
Eggs (Guide)
4 - 8; white or creamy-white, finely marked with dark brown.
Subspecies
Range of plumage variation considered by some authors to be perhaps at least partly clinal. Unclear whether populations of eastern Baltic (between Finland and Poland) belong to nominate subspecies or russicus, which presumably intergrade in Poland and Slovakia and perhaps elsewhere in eastern Europe. Birds in eastern Turkey, Georgia and Armenia presumably like those from Azerbaijan, presently included in nominate; racial identity of those breeding in Syria uncertain, tentatively included in kosswigi.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
biarmicus (Linnaeus, 1758) - Breeds locally from England, France and southern and eastern Spain east to southern Norway, Denmark, southern Sweden, southern Finland, south-western Russia, Balkans, western and southern Turkey and Azerbaijan. Non-breeding also south to Cyprus.
russicus (Brehm, CL, 1831) - Breeds southern Lithuania, Poland and Belarus south to eastern Austria, north-eastern Croatia, north-eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina, northern Serbia and Montenegro, northern and eastern Bulgaria and central Turkey, east to southern Russia (southern from L Chany, south-western Siberia and Tarbagatay, and south of L Baikal), Kazakhstan, Mongolia and northern and north-eastern China (Xinjiang, northern Qinghai, western and north-eastern Nei Mongol, Ningxia, north-eastern Heilongjiang). Non-breeding also Israel, northern Iran (mainly Caspian coast), eastern China (northern Hebei and south-central Liaoning) and north-eastern Afghanistan (may breed).
kosswigi Kumerloeve, 1959 - Southern Turkey (area around Amik Gölü, at least) and north-western Syria.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet