Marsh Warbler

Listen rather than look first: this small, plain warbler skulks low in tall waterside vegetation and scrub across Europe, and is best detected by an extraordinary song that strings together mimicked phrases borrowed from dozens of other species, including many picked up on African wintering grounds. It breeds in tall herbaceous growth near wetlands, ditches and riverbanks, arriving late and singing most persistently at dawn and dusk in early summer. Patience at the edge of likely breeding habitat in June is more productive than trying to track a moving bird through dense cover.