While Reed Warblers are on our minds, perhaps this is the time to ask
something I have wondered about for years.
What we then called Australian Reed Warblers used to be common,
pre-1980, in the reedbeds in the Bailey Billabong in Wilson Reserve,
Ivanhoe, Vic. (by the yarra 5 miles from the Melbourne CBD, if you don't
know.
I often watched Reed Warblers in the act of singing. I noted that the
inside of the mouth was a bright nail-varnish pink. Not the yellow
colour mentioned in the old Graham Pizzey/Ray Doyle field guide.
I was sufficiently interested to speak to Graham Pizzey about this when
I met him once. He said he would check up, but i dont recall any further
discussion anywher.
I also observed a RW in Banyule Swamp (Heidelberg) with a pink mouth.
The only definitely yellowish mouths I have seen were birds just south
of Bendigo, about 5 years ago.
Is this a seasonal or sex variation in one species? Diet dependent? Or
have I in fact been seeing two different species? They all sounded like
Reed Warblers to me.
Anthea Fleming
in Ivanhoe, Vic.
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