Branta Issues > Issue №8 (2005)

A new record of a settlement of Paddyfield Warbler (Acrocephalus agricola) in Kharkov region

A.S. Nadtochiy

In the works published earlier (Nadtochiy, Chernikov, 1999; Nadtochiy, 2002) there are data on 8 settlements of Paddyfield Warbler (Acrocephalus agricola Jerd.), which is a new breeding species of ornithofauna of Kharkov area. These settlements were found in 1999-2002 in a steppe zone of the region in the districts Barvenkovskiy (valleys of the rivers Britay and Bereka), Sakhnovshchinskiy (the valley of the river Orel') and Shevchenkovskiy (the valley of the river Velikiy Burluk).

22.05.2003 a new settlement of Paddyfield Warbler was registered in the valley of the river Bereka (right tributary of the Severskiy Donets) near the village Krasivoye (Pervomaysk district). Breeding habitats are located in beds of the reedmace Typha laxmannii Lepech. and Typha angustifolia L., circled by a wide strip of the reed Phragmites australis. The area of beds of dry reedmace is 5 and 4 hectares, water level (depth) is 50-70 cm. According to the data of singing males mapping the numbers of Paddyfield Warbler in this settlement are 60-65 pairs. In the first plot there were registered 34 singing males, in the second there were 23 of them. The distance between singing males was 7-12 m. Six singing males of Paddyfield Warbler were met in the edge of the reed bordering with the reedmace bed. Here breeding habitats of this species and Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus Herm.) overlap.