Common Reed Bunting

The Common Reed Bunting is a rather small bunting, distinctly smaller than the Yellow Bunting for example. It is very linked to wetlands. It has a wide distribution and 19 subspecies are currently recorded. I will only describe the nominate subspecies schoeniclus which occupies Europe.
The adult breeding male is immediately recognisable by its black head with white supraloral markings on either side of the bill. The black throat widens into a black bib pointing downwards on the breast. On the neck and the sides of the neck, a broad pale half-collar joins the supraloral markings. There is also a characteristic behavioural trait which mostly helps in the identification of the females and the young, namely the almost incessant nervous tail flicking when the bird is active. It keeps sprawling and close its tail as if it was a twitching, showing off the white outer rectrices in the meantime. The mantle is rufous-brown with strong blackish streaks. The scapulars and the wing covers are very rufous-marked. The back and the rump are grey and streaked with brown. The flight feathers and the rectrices are blackish brown, apart from the central rectrices which are of the same colour of the back. The two pairs of outer rectrices show a lot of white. The lower parts are white and streaked with blackish on the sides. The eye is dark, the bill black and the legs rufous.
The adult female differs from the male by its head and its lower parts. The rest is identical. The head shows an alternation of brown and whitish stripes. The crown and the auricular covers are rufous-brown, the latter slightly or not marked with blackish-brown and bordered by thick blackish-brown moustaches. Between the two, there is a broad white eyebrow. The two white supraloral markings of the male are present, underlined by blackish-brown malar markings and limited by two black spots at the bottom of the neck.The throat is white. The underparts are reddish white and finely streaked with brown on the chest and flanks. The adult male during the winter looks like a female, as the black feathers of the head have a broad gray-brown border that hides the black which will only appear after moulting. It is distinguished by its more marked collar, paler underparts and black spots which are sure to emerge sooner or later in the future black areas. The juvenile can be recognised by its new plumage, pointed rectrices and reddish, more striped underparts than the female. Birds in their first winter are difficult to distinguish from adults in winter. The best criterion is the tail, with its pointed outer rectrices if they are not too worn.