Birds Guide

The grass warblers are small passerine birds belonging to the genus Locustella of the Old World warbler family Sylviidae.

These are rather drab brownish warblers usually associated with fairly open grassland, shrubs or marshes. Some are streaked, others plain, all are difficult to view. They are insectivorous.

The most characteristic feature of this group is that the song of several species is a mechanical insect-like reeling which gives rise to the group's scientific name.

Species breeding in temperate regions are strongly migratory.

The nine species are

• Savi's Warbler, Locustella luscinoides
  Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Locustella certhiola
  Middendorf's Grasshopper Warbler, Locustella ochotensis
  Lanceolated Warbler, Locustella lanceolata
  River Warbler Locustella fluviatilis
  Gray's Grasshopper Warbler, Locustella fasciolata
  Grasshopper Warbler, Locustella naevia
  Styan's Grasshopper Warbler, Locustella pleskei
  Japanese Swamp Warbler, Locustella pryeri