Endangered Basra Reed-warbler (Acrocephalus griseldis) recorded for the first time in Turkey (Aves: Acrocephalidae)

Abstract

The Basra Reed-warbler (Acrocephalus griseldis) is an endangered songbird that breeds in the reed beds of southern
Mesopotamia. Hydrological projects, war, and drought have greatly reduced the breeding habitat of this species, making its future
uncertain. The first Basra Reed-warbler for Turkey was caught in a mist net on 22 May 2018 at the Aras River Ornithological Research
Station, between the provinces of Kars and Iğdır. This represents one of only a few vagrant records in the eastern Mediterranean, and
the northernmost record to date. It is likely that this bird was an overshooting spring migrant, but the existence of other small breeding
populations elsewhere in the Middle East could lead to more migrants, or even breeding pairs, occurring in eastern Turkey in the future.
Riparian oases such as the Aras River Bird Paradise are vital habitats for millions of migrating birds of hundreds of species and if more
individuals of Turkey’s first endangered songbird are discovered, it would raise the conservation priority of the region’s wetlands even
further.

Full text

250
http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/zoology/
Turkish Journal of Zoology
Turk J Zool
(2019) 43: 250-253
© TÜBİTAK
doi:10.3906/zoo-1808-16
Endangered Basra Reed-warbler (Acrocephalus griseldis) recorded for the rst time in
Turkey (Aves: Acrocephalidae)
Montague H. C. NEATE-CLEGG1,*, Juan RAMÍREZ ROMÁN2, Berkay DEMİR3, Çağan Hakkı ŞEKERCİOĞLU1,3,4
1School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
2C/ Héroe de Sostoa, Málaga, Spain
3KuzeyDoğa Society, Kars, Turkey
4Faculty of Sciences, Koç University, İstanbul, Turkey
* Correspondence: monteneateclegg@gmail.com
On 22 May 2018, a Basra Reed-warbler Acrocephalus
griseldis (Hartlaub, 1891) was caught in a mist net at the
Aras River Ornithological Research Station in Yukarı
Çıyrıklı village, Tuzluca, Iğdır Province, northeastern
Turkey (40.078°N, 43.358°E). e bird (Figure), weighing
18.2 g (see Table for full measurements), was tted with
a unique aluminum ring from Turkey’s bird ringing
program and was recaptured 2 days later. Not only is this
the rst Basra Reed-warbler identied in Turkey and the
northernmost record for the species, but it is also the rst
globally Endangered songbird for the country (BirdLife
International, 2018).
A. griseldis is a medium-sized insectivorous warbler
in the family Acrocephalidae (Dyrcz, 2018). e rst
noteworthy feature identifying this species in the hand
was the size, intermediate between the Eurasian Reed-
warbler (A. scirpaceus) and Great Reed-warbler (A.
arundinaceus). e wing length, 83 mm, did not overlap
with either species (63–69 and 89–101 mm, respectively;
Kennerley and Pearson, 2010). e next feature was the
disproportionately large bill, which gave a distinctive
appearance to the head (Figure). is bill was similar in
length (22.2 mm) to that of A. arundinaceus (21.8–25.3
mm) but clearly slimmer, closer in appearance to the
Clamorous Reed-warbler (Acrocephalus stentoreus). e
upper parts also diered from A. arundinaceus (and from
A. stentoreus), being darker and cooler, with a less rufous
tone, contrasting with whiter underparts, and lacking the
dull coloration in the anks always present in A. scirpaceus,
A. arundinaceus, and A. stentoreus. e tail, at 62 mm, was
clearly longer than that of A. scirpaceus (48–55 mm) but
shorter than that of A. arundinaceus (66–80 mm), giving
dierent proportions to this bird, which, in addition to
wing formula, could only match with A. griseldis.
e Aras River Ornithological Station has operated the
Eastern Turkey Bird Monitoring Project for 12 years, under
the direction of the University of Utah and KuzeyDoğa
Society and in collaboration with the local Iğdır and
Kaas universities. e station operates 500–600 m of
mist nets throughout the spring and autumn migrations
for ~200 days per year. e Aras River wetlands meet 4
Ramsar criteria (Ramsar, 2018) and provide critical habitat
for birds amidst the arid plains of northeastern Turkey.
Surrounding the river are extensive beds of Phragmites and
Abstract: e Basra Reed-warbler (Acrocephalus griseldis) is an endangered songbird that breeds in the reed beds of southern
Mesopotamia. Hydrological projects, war, and drought have greatly reduced the breeding habitat of this species, making its future
uncertain. e rst Basra Reed-warbler for Turkey was caught in a mist net on 22 May 2018 at the Aras River Ornithological Research
Station, between the provinces of Kars and Iğdır. is represents one of only a few vagrant records in the eastern Mediterranean, and
the northernmost record to date. It is likely that this bird was an overshooting spring migrant, but the existence of other small breeding
populations elsewhere in the Middle East could lead to more migrants, or even breeding pairs, occurring in eastern Turkey in the future.
Riparian oases such as the Aras River Bird Paradise are vital habitats for millions of migrating birds of hundreds of species and if more
individuals of Turkey’s rst endangered songbird are discovered, it would raise the conservation priority of the region’s wetlands even
further.
Key words: Anatolia, avian ecology, bird banding, migratory bird, Middle East, mist netting, ornithology, wetlands
Received: 10.08.2018 Accepted/Published Online: 26.12.2018 Final Version: 01.03.2019
Short Communication
is work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

NEATE-CLEGG et al. / Turk J Zool
251
Typh a interspersed with scrub, farmland, orchards, and
poplar groves. To date, nearly 100,000 birds of 191 species
have been ringed and 290 bird species have been recorded
around the site. ree global migratory yways converge
on eastern Turkey (Birdlife International, 2018) and about
210 bird species migrate along the Aras River, including 90
species that breed in the area (Türkoğlu and Şekercioğlu,
2017; eBird, 2018). In particular, the reed beds support a
healthy breeding population of A. arundinaceus (Horns et
al., 2016), a species that cooccurs with A. griseldis in both
habitat and range (Dyrcz, 2018a, 2018b). e Aras River
Station provides critical data on
the occurrence, abundance,
phenology, and migration strategies of migratory birds in
this understudied region (Horns et al., 2016).
A. griseldis breeds in fresh or brackish wetlands, in reed
beds composed of Phragmites or Ty ph a as well as other
emergent vegetation (Birdlife International, 2018). ey
feed both within the reed beds and in adjacent thickets
on aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates taken low down
in the vegetation. A. griseldis breeds in the marshlands of
Mesopotamia in eastern Iraq (on the lower Euphrates and
Tigris rivers) and southwestern Iran (Shadegan marshes;
Ayé, 2006). More recently, they have been recorded breeding
in Kuwait (Jahra wetlands; Jennings, 2010) and Israel (Hula
Valley; Perlman and Shanni, 2008). A. griseldis overwinters
in eastern Africa from southern Somalia through Kenya and
Tanzania to Malawi and Mozambique. On their passage,
they use stopover sites in Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia,
and Uganda.
e A. griseldis caught at the Aras River Station is most
likely a vagrant. Vagrancy is a common phenomenon
among long-distance migrants (Lees and Gilroy, 2009) and
vagrant A. griseldis have been reported in Cyprus (Cyprus
Ornithological Society (1957), 1995) and Syria (Richardson,
2006; Yésou et al., 2007). Another possible individual was
reported in Gaziantep Province, Anatolia, in 1987, but the
report lacked sucient description to admit the species to
the Turkish list (Kirwan et al., 1999). e nearest known
breeding A. griseldis to Aras River Station are located just
over 600 km away on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, a
small fraction of the distance over which this species can
migrate. Moreover, the breeding A. griseldis discovered in
Israel were over 800 km from the center of their distribution
(Perlman and Shanni, 2008). Given the vagrant and recent
breeding records, the possibility of A. griseldis reaching
Figure. e le-hand photo shows the Basra Reed-warbler (Acrocephalus griseldis) caught at Aras River Ornithological Research Station.
e right-hand photo compares A. griseldis (le) with a Great Reed-warbler (A. arundinaceus, right).
Tab l e . Measurements taken from the Basra Reed-warbler
(Acrocephalus griseldis) at Aras River Ornithological Research
Station. e second column gives the length of each primary
feather where PC = longest primary covert.
Measurements
Ring FA 17159 P1–PC 6 mm
Weight 18.2 g P2 61 mm
Wing 83 mm P3 62 mm
Tai l 62 mm P4 61 mm
Tar s u s 24.9 mm P5 58 mm
Head + bill 41.0 mm P6 57 mm
Bill (culmen) length 22.2 mm P7 55 mm
Bill width 4.8 mm P8 55 mm
Fat score 0 P9 52 mm
Emargination P3 P10 52 mm
Tip P3

NEATE-CLEGG et al. / Turk J Zool
252
Turkey is predictable, most likely as a spring overshoot
(Kirwan et al., 2008).
With a population of 1500–7000 adults and a restricted
range of 438,000 km2, A. griseldis is listed as Endangered
(Birdlife International, 2018). It is believed that the species
has undergone a considerable decline since the 1950s,
as breeding habitat in Mesopotamia was drained during
large hydrological projects (Maltby, 1994); this has been
corroborated by decreases in capture rates at ringing sites
(Birdlife International, 2018). Additionally, the Iran–
Iraq War in the 1980s contributed substantial damage to
Mesopotamian wetlands. By the early 1990s, perhaps a
third of the original suitable habitat remained (Evans, 1993;
Pearce, 1993); by 2003, less than 800 km2 of Mesopotamian
marshes were le (UNEP, 2003). Fortunately, a major
restoration project following the Iraq War, in conjunction
with substantial snow melts in Iran and Turkey, led to the
reinundation of 58% of the original marshland by 2006
(Richardson and Hussain, 2006). Currently, the population
is believed to be relatively stable. However, water
management practices in Iran, Syria, and Turkey continue
to shrink the A. griseldis breeding habitat, exacerbated by
recent droughts, reducing the available marshland to 30%
of its original area (Birdlife International, 2018). Moreover,
overwintering populations in the Tana River Delta, Kenya,
are threatened by large-scale conversion to agriculture. e
continued reduction of habitat makes the future of the A.
griseldis population uncertain (Birdlife International, 2018).
Given the threat to this species, it is critical to conserve
any breeding populations that might exist, and more
populations may yet be discovered in the Middle East.
e Aras River Station is the only such bird monitoring
station in eastern Turkey, so it is possible that A. griseldis
has gone unnoticed elsewhere in the region. While the
bird in question is likely a lone vagrant, the possibility
of breeding A. griseldis in eastern Turkey at present or in
the future should not be ruled out, especially given the
cooccurrence of A. arundinaceus. Furthermore, climate
change could facilitate a northward expansion of A.
griseldis in the future (Parmesan, 2006; Chen et al., 2011).
More exploration of suitable habitat should be conducted
to establish whether more migrants reach the region or
indeed if breeding pairs of A. griseldis exist. Riparian oases
such as the Aras River Bird Paradise are vital habitats for
millions of migrating birds of hundreds of species, but
rivers and wetlands in Turkey are increasingly threatened
(Şekercioğlu et al., 2011a, 2011b). Further incidence of the
species would increase the conservation signicance and
urgency of wetlands in eastern Turkey.
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Turkey’s Department of Nature
Conservation and National Parks and the Iğdır Ministry
of Agriculture and Forestry for granting us the permits
for this study. We are grateful to KuzeyDoğa Society,
Kaas University, Iğdır University, the residents of Yukarı
Cıyrıklı, and the dozens of volunteers at the Aras River
Ornithological Research Station for their support. is
research was supported by KuzeyDoğa’s generous donors,
especially the Turkey Mozaik Foundation, Batubay Özkan,
Ömer Külahçıoğlu, Faruk Eczacıbaşı, Burak Över, Bilge
Bahar, and Yalın Karadoğan.
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