Common Grasshopper Warbler

Locustella naevia

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernInvertebratesShrublandCup nestTiny · 13 g

What the Common Grasshopper Warbler sounds like

Sonogram of the Common Grasshopper Warbler: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Noé Ferrari · Song · Arrondissement d'Abbeville (near Noyelles-sur-Mer), Somme, Hauts-de-France, France · CC BY 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Common Grasshopper Warbler: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Noé Ferrari · Song · Arrondissement d'Abbeville (near Cambron), Somme, Hauts-de-France, France · CC BY 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Common Grasshopper Warbler: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Noé Ferrari · Song · Arrondissement d'Abbeville (near Cambron), Somme, Hauts-de-France, France · CC BY 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The adult is about 12.5 cm (5 in) long, and weighs 11.5–16 grams (0.41–0.56 oz). It is a secretive bird and can be hard to see, but its presence is easily detected because of its characteristic song. The upper-parts are pale olive-brown, each feather having a central darker brown streak. The cheeks are greyish, the irises are brown and there is a faint eye streak behind the eye. The upper mandible of the beak is dark brown and the lower mandible yellowish-brown. The underparts are cream-coloured or yellowish-buff with a few dark brown spots and streaks on the breast and flanks.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Common Grasshopper Warbler

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 6 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is May, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Common Grasshopper Warbler

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 59 countries with regular records, and 4 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in Greece, Iceland, Bangladesh, Montenegro.

About the Common Grasshopper Warbler

The common grasshopper warbler or just grasshopper warbler is a species of Old World warbler in the genus Locustella. It breeds across much of temperate Europe and the western Palearctic. It is migratory, wintering across northern tropical Africa just south of the Sahara, and also locally in India.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Common Grasshopper Warbler vs Savi's Warbler · Common Grasshopper Warbler vs River Warbler · Common Grasshopper Warbler vs Taiwan Bush Warbler

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