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The article explores on a study that determines the genomes of a bird. It notes on Taeniopygia guttata, known as zebra finch that belongs to the most populous bird order, the perching birds or Passeriformes and is having its genome sequenced. Hence, a group of researchers have created a linkage map of zebra finch to the distantly related Galliformes, known as chicken, where indication of low amount interchromosomal rearrangement among bird orders is observed. Meanwhile, the result of the prior study reveals that the arrangement is seen among zebra finch, reed warbler and chicken, yet in a recombination procedure it shows that the latter specie has higher relativity with other birds.

the article presents information on the identity of some Hippolais specimens from Eritrea and the United Arab Emirates. A confusing group of Hippolais and Acrocephalus warblers is found in coastal habitat in northeast Africa and the nearby area of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Persian Gulf. The group includes migrant and resident forms, some of which bear great similarity to other species in the same habitat. DNA was isolated from toe pads using standard methods, including proteinase K digestion and one step each of phenol and chloroform purification.

Summary New ‘virtual displacement’ experiments demonstrate that migrating reed warblers know the magnetic coordinates of their destination, and can set a novel course to their goal with only magnetic-field parameters as a guide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Breeding ecology of the Basra Reed Warbler, Acrocephalus griseldis, in Iraq (Aves: Passeriformes: Acrocephalidae)," by O. F. Al-Sheikhly, N. Iyad, and F. Barbanera in the 2013 issue.

The article discusses aspects of false claims made by a paper published in the "Taylor & Francis" journal titled "Zoology in the Middle East" regrading behaviors Basra Reed Warblers resulting in a case ornithological fraud.

The article reports on a Reed Warbler singing while caught in a mist-net in a garden 8 kilometers away from the nearest breeding site at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Conwy Reserve in England.

The article discusses a study of chronic avian malaria in great reed warblers by Asghar et al. within the issue that found infected birds laid fewer eggs, were less successful at rearing healthy offspring, and had shorter telomeres, which protect the ends of chromosomes, than uninfected birds.

The article discusses a three-decade long study of great reed warblers in southern Sweden by Dennis Hasselquist, Staffan Bensch, and Muhammad Asghar within the issue reporting that long-term infection with malaria significantly shortened the birds’ lives. Topics include the analysis of blood cells of infected birds that revealed shorter telomeres than non-infected birds, the long-term costs of nonlethal diseases to fitness and reproductive success, and shortened life spans in infected birds.

Reports that reed warblers can be easily exploited by an invading cuckoo chick. Ways in which the invading chick can fool the reed warblers into feeding it; Gape of the cuckoo chick compared to that of a brood of warbler chicks; Vocal and visual signals that the cuckoo uses; How the mother cuckoo inserts her egg into the warbler nest; How the cuckoo hatchling evicts its warbler nest-mates. INSET: Box 1: Three fundamental concepts.

Studies the habitat and behavior of Basra Reed Warbler Acrocephalus griseldis in Botswana. Reference to (Pearson & Backhurst 1988) and others; Information on the measurements and weights of a Basra Reed Warbler Acrocephalus griseldis caught at Phakalane, Botswana.

Opinion. Discusses the alarm calling of the nesting moustached warblers, Acrocephalus melanopogon. Details on the chicks' antipredator response; Factors which influenced the increased parental alarm calling in the chicks; In-depth look at the antipredator response.

Opinion. Comments on Kleindorfer's study on the relationships between alarm calling by parents and the reactions of nestlings in the moustached warbler, Acrocephlaus melanopogan. What Kleindorfer concluded in this research; Details on the chick reaction hypothesis.

Recent technological advancements now allow us to obtain geographical position data for a wide range of animal movements. Here we used light-level geolocators to study the annual migration cycle in great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus), a passerine bird breeding in Eurasia and wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. We were specifically interested in seasonal strategies in routes and schedules of migration. We found that the great reed warblers (all males, no females were included) migrated from the Swedish breeding site in early August. After spending up to three weeks at scattered stopover sites in central to south-eastern Europe, they resumed migration and crossed the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert without lengthy stopovers. They then spread out over a large overwintering area and each bird utilised two (or even three) main wintering sites that were spatially separated by a distinct mid-winter movement. Spring migration initiation date differed widely between individuals (1-27 April). Several males took a more westerly route over the Sahara in spring than in autumn, and in general there were fewer long-distance travels and more frequent shorter stopovers, including one in northern Africa, in spring. The shorter stopovers made spring migration on average faster than autumn migration. There was a strong correlation between the spring departure dates from wintering sites and the arrival dates at the breeding ground. All males had a high migration speed in spring despite large variation in departure dates, indicating a time-minimization strategy to achieve an early arrival at the breeding site; the latter being decisive for high reproductive success in great reed warblers. Our results have important implications for the understanding of long-distance migrants’ ability to predict conditions at distant breeding sites and adapt to rapid environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have shown that experienced night-migratory songbirds can determine their position, but it has remained a mystery which cues and sensory mechanisms they use, in particular, those used to determine longitude (east–west position). One potential solution would be to use a magnetic map or signpost mechanism like the one documented in sea turtles. Night-migratory songbirds have a magnetic compass in their eyes and a second magnetic sense with unknown biological function involving the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve (V1). Could V1 be involved in determining east–west position? We displaced 57 Eurasian reed warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) with or without sectioned V1. Sham operated birds corrected their orientation towards the breeding area after displacement like the untreated controls did. In contrast, V1-sectioned birds did not correct for the displacement. They oriented in the same direction after the displacement as they had done at the capture site. Thus, an intact ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve is necessary for detecting the 1,000 km eastward displacement in this night-migratory songbird. Our results suggest that V1 carries map-related information used in a large-scale map or signpost sense that the reed warblers needed to determine their approximate geographical position and/or an east–west coordinate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the discovery of the breeding site of one of the world's least known birds, Large-billed Reed Warbler Acrocephalus orinus, in the remote Wakhan Corridor of the Pamir mountains of northeastern Afghanistan. The site was discovered by Rob Timmins from WCS while a conducting a survey of bird communities along the Wakhan and Pamir rivers. According to Mike Evans, BirdLife's compiler of the Important Bird Areas of the Middle East, the discovery suggests that there may be more discoveries to be made in the area.

The article cites a "BirdingASIA" report about the discovery of the breeding grounds of Large-billed Reed Warbler Acrocephalus orinus in the Wakhan Corridor in northeastern Afghanistan.

A letter to the editor is presented about the current figure on the population of Blyth's Reed Warblers.

Obligate avian brood parasitism typically involves one of 2 strategies: parasite chicks are either 1) virulent and evict all other eggs and nest mates to be raised alone or 2) more tolerant and share foster parental care with host chicks for some or the entirety of the nestling period. We studied the consequences of experimentally forced mixed broods of age-matched one common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) and 2 great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) chicks. In these broods, both cuckoo and host chicks grew slower than did either individual cuckoos or great reed warblers in broods of 1 parasite or 3 host chicks, respectively. Video records showed that in mixed broods, cuckoo chicks received feedings less frequently than the 33% predicted by chance at 4 days of age but parental food allocations increased to chance levels at 8 days of age. The consistent patterns of lower growth rates arose even though chicks in broods of 1 parasite and 2 hosts received the largest prey items per feeding. In addition, several other measures of parental provisioning also did not predict species and brood-specific differences in nestling growth rates across the different treatments. However, variation in begging displays and its specific costs on host and parasite chicks in the different nest treatments were not quantified in this study. We conclude that young of nest mate–evictor common cuckoos benefit from the sole occupancy of host nests in part owing to an initial competitive disadvantage for parental care in broods with age-matched great reed warbler chicks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that researchers have recorded Hula Valley, Israel as the first breeding site of the Basra reed warbler outside Iraq. Four Basra reed warbler were found in Hula Valley in 2006, and 2007 saw the return of all three adults to the same site. Evidence that the species is breeding in the Hula Valley was recorded, with the discovery of two family groups with at least one fledgling. The animal has been decreasing significantly in its breeding sites in Mesopotamian marshes in Iraq. The marshes, which were heavily drained during the time of ex-President Saddam Hussein, are now being re-flooded. However, the Basra reed warbler remains categorized as endangered species.

The article reports on the findings of the research conducted by Birdlife International and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Great Britain regarding the patterns of isotopes in feathers from aquatic warblers caught in Europe. The continent's most endangered migratory songbird known as the aquatic warbler has been traced to its wintering grounds. Isotope patterns from the feathers of aquatic warbler were compared with isotope maps of West Africa which indicated that it the birds spent winter season just south of the Sahara.

In cooperatively breeding vertebrates, indirect fitness benefits are maximized by subordinates who choose to help their own closely related kin after accurately assessing their relatedness to the group's offspring. Here we show that in the cooperatively breeding Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis), female subordinates help to raise new nestlings by providing them with food only when the offspring are being raised by parents who also fed the subordinates themselves when they were young. These helper females use the continued presence of the primary female, rather than of the primary male, as their provisioning cue - presumably because female infidelity is rife in this species, making their relatedness to the father less reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]