The Large-Billed Reed Warbler Rediscovered

Researchers have rediscovered the large-billed reed warbler (Acrocephalus orinus), which has only been sighted on three occasions, in northeastern Afghanistan.
The Large-Billed Reed Warbler Rediscovered
LARGE-BILLED REED WARBLER: This bird, probably the least known in the world, was rediscovered in Afghanistan. (Wildlife Conservation Society Afghanistan)
2/1/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/birdy_(Wildlife_Conservation_Society_Afghanistan).jpg" alt="LARGE-BILLED REED WARBLER: This bird, probably the least known in the world, was rediscovered in Afghanistan. (Wildlife Conservation Society Afghanistan)" title="LARGE-BILLED REED WARBLER: This bird, probably the least known in the world, was rediscovered in Afghanistan. (Wildlife Conservation Society Afghanistan)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1823518"/></a>
LARGE-BILLED REED WARBLER: This bird, probably the least known in the world, was rediscovered in Afghanistan. (Wildlife Conservation Society Afghanistan)

Researchers have rediscovered the large-billed reed warbler (Acrocephalus orinus), which has only been sighted on three occasions, in northeastern Afghanistan.

In summer 2008, American ornithologist Robert Timmins traveled to Badakshan Province in northeastern Afghanistan to compile an inventory of bird species. On the trip, he encountered a bird that he could not identify. He kept a recording of the call and wrote some descriptions of the species.

In June 2009, Afghan ornithologists Naqeebullah Mostafawi, Ali Madad Rajabi, and Hafizullah Noori captured 15 individuals of the bird in Badakshan.

They sent photographs and feather samples to Dr. Lars Svensson and Dr. Urban Olsson at the University of Gothenburg, who used DNA analyses to confirm the species was the large-billed reed warbler—a bird that was first discovered in 1867 and has only been seen twice since then.

Svensson and Olsson had conducted a study previously which found that about a dozen stuffed large-billed reed warblers in museums around the world had been incorrectly classified as the common species of reed warbler. Their findings showed that the bird probably lived in northeastern Afghanistan during the 1930s.

“Very little is known about this species,” Olsson told The Epoch Times. “Up to now, about 12 birds exist in museums and 17 have been seen alive. It breeds at least in Afghanistan, but perhaps also in nearby countries, like Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. It has also been recorded in India, Burma, and Thailand.”

The bird is not hunted, but is regarded as being under acute threat because its breeding sites are being deforested.

“That’s why it’s vital that we protect both the species and its habitat now,” said Olsson in a press release.

Read the research paper here.