Cetti's Warbler - Cettia cetti
Common anywhere there is emergent riparian vegetation, Cetti's Warbler is a typical reed passerine, a large group comprising small birds with rather dull livery and which are not easy to recognise, except by their songs which differ considerably from species to species.
The dress is a uniform brown, with a fine white eyebrow and paler underparts; the head is round and the tail rather long, whilst the small wings show that this bird is not a good medium or long distance flyer.
In fact this species is the only member of the group which is strictly resident, most of the other reed passerines are transaharan migrants (i.e. they go beyond the Sahara Desert). A song bird, its shrill warble rings out all through the year.
Cetti's Warbler is decidedly territorial: before winter has passed, the males already begin to fight over the best places at the edges of the reed thickets.
Like similar species, Cetti's Warbler is an insectivore, but in winter it also feeds on berries. The nest is fixed to the vegetation, generally no more than a metre above the ground.
