Another week, another celebration of a nice birdo. The Bearded Reedling (panurus biarmicus) is a blob-like entity with some fancy foot skills. And a beard.
All About the Bearded Reedling
These small little blighters are the only species in the Panuridae family.
Exotic looking, the birds are located across the UK. Mainly in the south of England, although they’re quite prevalent in Lancashire. Not that we can ever say we’ve noticed one.
But they’re also active in Ireland and Scotland, as well as other chunks of Europe.
What caught our attention with this species was an image on Instagram. The bearded reedling can at times resemble a greyish blob.
But they’re very distinctive looking, non? Just a bit difficult to spot as they dart in and out of life with super fast head bobbing.
About 437,000 of them reside across Europe—and they all have Hipster beards.
At around 12.5 cm they’re dinky little beasts. They also dig swamp life, often picking reeds and building their nests close to the ground.
They’re bird song is in distinctive “ping” and “ting” like sounds, pretty apt as the little things blast about the place like a bolt of lightning.
So if you’re birdwatching the chances is you’ll hear them before you see one.
They don’t often migrate, only choosing to do so if there’s some sort of colossal natural disaster. But they’re vulnerable during the winter, so maybe keep a bird box around, eh?
Now, the thing is, there are around 10,000 species of birds in the world.
Scientists think they’ve discovered 95% of them on Earth. Although the likes of the white bellbird crop up as new species from time to time.
But it’s remarkable that a species like the bearded reedling can largely go unknown by the wider population. For shame!
Professional Moron 
Such a sweet little bird. Haven’t seen him before. Thanks for the great links!
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From my research it seems they’re mainly in Europe. So America will have to make do with them massive eagle things you specialise in.
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I love sweet elegant little birds. So adorable! We specialize in birds of prey. Don’t read any thing into that. Two winters in a row baby American Robins sheltered in the elves of my patio til Spring. They had the same ritual of leaving at 7 AM and returning at 7 in the evening . So far nothing this year. There’s still time. 😊
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Get a bloody bird box and feeder out there, madam! Keep an eye out for ostriches as well. You have them as well, right? Plus, flamingoes.
But the wee birds do have a special something, with all the super sharp head bobbing movements.
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They make their cozy little shelter in the corner of the eaves, we don’t need a box, it’s 80 degrees here. That’s why they are here, escaping the frozen tundra of New England and Europe. There are cuties.
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Okay, so that’s 26 celsiuis. I can see why they’d want to be there, we rarely hit 88 F in England. Sell outs!
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It’s kind of odd to think that, thanks to birds, there are more species of dinosaur around now than we know about in the Cretaceous. Answers the question as to why the other dinosaurs died out. No need for a meteor. They really did taste like chicken.
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Obsessed with dinosaurs as a kid, one book I had (probably jokingly) suggested dinosaurs died out due to boredom. There was a little picture of this with the dinosaurs lounging around sleeping on top of each other. I showed it to my father and he immediately rounded on it as preposterous.
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