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{{Taxobox
| name = Large-billed reed warbler
| image=Acrocephalus orinus Tajikistan.jpg
| image_caption = An adult large-billed reed warbler caught at breeding grounds in the Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan
| status = EN
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref>{{IUCN|id=22729551 |title=''Acrocephalus orinus'' |assessor=BirdLife International |assessor-link=BirdLife International |version=2013.2 |year=2012 |accessdate=26 November 2013}}</ref>
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
| classis = [[bird|Aves]]
| ordo = [[Passeriformes]]
| superfamilia = [[Sylvioidea]]
| familia = [[Acrocephalidae]]
| genus = ''[[Acrocephalus (bird)|Acrocephalus]] ''
| species = '''''A. orinus'''''
| binomial = ''Acrocephalus orinus''
| binomial_authority = [[Harry Church Oberholser|Oberholser]], 1905
}}

The '''large-billed reed warbler''' (''Acrocephalus orinus'') is an [[Old World warbler]] in the genus ''[[Acrocephalus (bird)|Acrocephalus]]''. The species has been dubbed as "the world's least known bird".<ref>[http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2007/03/acrocephalus_orinus_rediscovery.html BirdLife report]</ref> It was known from a single specimen collected in India in 1867 and rediscovered in the wild in [[Thailand]] in 2006. The identity of the bird caught in Thailand was established by matching [[DNA]] sequences extracted from [[feather]]s; the bird was released. After the rediscovery in the wild a second specimen was discovered amid ''[[Acrocephalus dumetorum]]'' specimens in the collections of the [[Natural History Museum at Tring]].<ref>[http://www.birdlife.org/news/pr/2007/03/acrocephalus_orinus_rediscovered.html Birdlife International] Accessed March 2007</ref> A breeding area was found in Afghanistan in 2009 and studies in 2011 pointed to its breeding in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. One bird was found in the [[Baikka Wetland]] in Srimangal, [[Bangladesh]] on 7 December 2011.<ref name="p-alo">[http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2011-12-09/news/207453 "Rare Bird in Baikka Wetland", Daily Prothom Alo]</ref>

==Description==
[[Image:OrinusWing.svg|120px|left|thumb|Primary tip shape]]
This species has the upper plumage and visible portions of wings and tail olive-brown while the underside is pale creamy with the underwing and axillaries paler.

The length is about {{convert|5|in|mm}} with the tail being {{convert|2.3|in|mm}} and the wing {{convert|2.4|in|mm|adj=on}} long. The tarsus is {{convert|0.85|in|mm|adj=on}} while the bill from [[gape]] is {{convert|0.8|in|mm|adj=on}}. The first primary measures {{convert|0.35|in|mm|adj=on}} while the second is intermediate in length between the ninth and tenth. The closed tail appears graduated with the difference between the longest and shortest feathers being {{convert|0.4|in|mm}}. The type specimen was obtained in the Sutlej valley ("Sukedje valley"<ref>{{cite book|author=Baker, EC Stuart|title=Fauna of British Indian Birds. Volume 7|edition=2nd|page=170|url=https://archive.org/stream/BakerFbiBirds7/BakerFBI7#page/n177/mode/1up/search/orinus|year=1930|publisher=Taylor and Francis, London}}</ref>) not far from Rampur.<ref>Oates, E. W. (1889) Fauna of British India. Birds. Volume 1.</ref>

The upper mandible is dark, but the cutting edges and entire lower mandible are pale. The tarsi, toes and claws appear pale brown. The hind claw is longer than in ''dumetorum''. The tips of the tail feathers are pointed and more acutely lanceolate than in ''dumetorum'' or ''[[Acrocephalus concinens]]''. The primary tips are broad and rather squarer. Recent observers note that it has a habit of fanning out its tail open as it forages.

The specimens from Afghanistan and Kazakhstan suggest that they breed in Central Asia and moult indicates that they migrate along the Himalayas to winter in northern India and Southeast Asia. Sequence variation points to a stable or shrinking population structure.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Svensson L., Prŷs-Jones R., Rasmussen P.C., Olsson U. | year = 2008 | title = Discovery of ten new specimens of large-billed reed warbler Acrocephalus orinus, and new insights into its distributional range | url = | journal = Journal of Avian Biology | volume = 39 | issue = 6| pages = 605–610 | doi=10.1111/j.1600-048x.2008.04634.x}}</ref>

==History==
It was first collected by [[Allan Octavian Hume]] in the [[Sutlej Valley]] near Rampur, [[Himachal Pradesh]], [[India]] on 13 November 1867. This specimen (BMNH registration no. 1886.7.8. 1742) was first provisionally described as ''Phyllopneuste macrorhyncha'' ([[Allan Octavian Hume|Hume]], 1869<ref>Hume, A. 1869. Ibis 2 (5): 355–357 (no title).</ref>) but the name was changed two years later to ''Acrocephalus macrorhynchus'' (Hume, 1871). [[Harry Church Oberholser|H C Oberholser]] however pointed out in 1905 that this was unacceptable because a specimen from Egypt described by [[Johann Wilhelm von Müller|von Müller]] in 1853 as ''Calamoherpe macrorhyncha'' turned out to be ''Acrocephalus stentoreus''; ''Acrocephalus macrorhynchus'' was abandoned in favour of ''A. orinus''. The identity of the species was in question and until 2002 was considered as a synonym of the [[clamorous reed warbler]] (''Acrocephalus stentoreus'').<ref>Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. & Inskipp, T. 1998. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. London: A. & C. Black.</ref> Some others considered it an aberrant Blyth's reed warbler. A recent re-check of the morphology<ref>Vaurie, C. (1955) Systematic Notes on Palearctic Birds. No. 18:Supplementary Notes on Corvidae, Timaliinae, Alaudidae, Sylviinae, Hirundinidae, and Turdinae. American Museum Novitates. 1753 [http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/5405/1/N1753.pdf]</ref> and the [[mtDNA]] suggested that it was a distinct species.<ref>Bensch, S and D. Pearson (2002) The Large-billed Reed Warbler ''Acrocephalus orinus'' revisited. Ibis (2002), 144:259–267 [http://ask.lub.lu.se/archive/00020515/01/Bensch_etal_Ibis_2002.pdf PDF] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071127075912/http://ask.lub.lu.se/archive/00020515/01/Bensch_etal_Ibis_2002.pdf |date=2007-11-27 }} [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/viewer.fcgi?db=nucleotide&val=21396632 Nucleotide sequence]</ref> An additional ten new specimens in collections were identified in 2008. These included specimens collected by [[John Biddulph]] from Gilgit and [[Walter Norman Koelz|W N Koelz]] from Zebak.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Svensson, L.|author2=Prys-Jones, R.|author3=Rasmussen, P. C.|author4=Olsson, U.|last-author-amp=yes|year=2008 | title=Discovery of ten new specimens of large-billed reed warbler ''Acrocephalus orinus'', and new insights into its distributional range|journal=J. Avian Biol.|volume=39|pages=605–661|doi=10.1111/j.1600-048x.2008.04634.x}}</ref>

==Rediscovery==
On 27 March 2006 a living specimen was caught at the Laem Phak Bia Environmental Research and Development Project in [[Phetchaburi Province|Phetchaburi]], [[Thailand]] by ornithologist Philip Round of [[Mahidol University]]. The bird was [[Bird ringing|ringed]] and two feathers were extracted; DNA from them was found to match the DNA of the 1867 specimen.<ref>The Nation, [http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/03/07/headlines/headlines_30028700.php Bird comes back from the dead], 7 March 2007</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author = Round Philip D., Hansson Bengt, Pearson David J., Kennerley Peter R., Bensch Staffan | year = 2007 | title = Lost and found: the enigmatic large-billed reed warbler ''Acrocephalus orinus'' rediscovered after 139 years | url = http://luur.lub.lu.se/luur?func=downloadFile&fileOId=624733 | journal = Journal of Avian Biology | volume = 38 | issue = 2| page = 133 }}</ref>

Based on the short and rounded wings, earlier studies had suggested that the species was likely to be a short-distant migrant or a resident. The rediscoveries of a second museum specimen from a different location and the wild specimen from Thailand suggest that this may not be so.

Some field identifications from West Bengal and central India were subsequently reported based on behaviour<ref>Raju, David, Praveen J. & Mike Prince (2009) A possible record of Large-billed Reed-warbler ''Acrocephalus orinus'' from Kanha Tiger Reserve, central India. Indian Birds 4(4):130-133</ref> but captured specimens did not appear to match the species.<ref>Raju, DR, S Balachandran, Praveen J, CR Sarath & Mike Prince (2009) More news on the ''Acrocephalus'' warblers at Kanha Tiger Reserve. Indian Birds 5(2):46-47</ref>

A breeding site of the large-billed reed warbler ''Acrocephalus orinus'', was discovered in the [[Wakhan Corridor]] of the [[Pamir Mountains|Pamir]] of north-eastern [[Afghanistan]] by Researcher Robert Timmins of the [[Wildlife Conservation Society]] who was studying aviary communities in the Pamir Mountains. He came across a small brown warbler and recorded its song. Dr. Timmins did not realize the importance of his discovery until he visited a Natural History Museum in Tring, England. There he examined a specimen of a large-billed reed warbler, which looked identical to the bird he had seen and recorded.

A team of ornithologists, including Afghan scientists of the [[Wildlife Conservation Society]], confirmed his discovery by capturing, sampling and releasing almost 20 specimens of the bird in 2009, the largest number ever recorded, using a combination of field observations, museum specimens, DNA sequencing, and also the first known audio recording of the species that were already made in 2008.<ref>[http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2010/01/warbler_breeding.html "'World's least known bird' found breeding in Afghanistan"]</ref><ref>[http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/large-billed-reed-warbler.html#cr ""World's Least Known Bird" breeding site discovered in Afghanistan"]</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=BirdingASIA |volume=12 |year=2009| pages=42–45|title=The discovery of Large-billed Reed Warblers ''Acrocephalus orinus'' in north-eastern Afghanistan|author1=Timmins RJ |author2=Naqueebullah Mostafawi |author3=Ali Madad Rajabi |author4=Hafizullah Noori |author5=Stephane Ostrowski |author6=Urban Olsson |author7=Lars Svensson |author8=Colin M. Poole |url=http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/publications/ba12pdfs/Timmins-LBWarbler.pdf}}</ref>

A study by Russian ornithologists in 2011 indicated that the species had been misidentified as ''A. dumetorum'' in museum collections and that the species may be breeding in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, eastern Uzbekistan and south-eastern Kazakhstan.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Koblik EA |author2=Red'kin YA |author3=Meer MS |author4=Derelle R |author5=Golenkina SA |author6=Kondrashov FA |author7=VY Arkhipov |year=2011| title= Acrocephalus orinus: A Case of Mistaken Identity| journal= PLoS ONE |volume=6| issue=4|page=e17716|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0017716 | pmid=21526114 | pmc=3081296}}</ref>

Nests were found in 2011 in the [[Panj river]] valley, Tajikistan.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Kvartalnov P.V. |author2=Samotskaya V.V. |author3=Abdulnazarov A.G. |year=2011 |title=From museum collections to live birds |journal=Priroda |issue=12 |pages=56–58 |url=http://www.mendeley.com/download/public/10017685/4508285431/c6884471117013f0993ba1cab6413ea8f78b1aa1/dl.pdf }}{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.ornithomedia.com/magazine/mag_art355_2.htm Identification notes]
*[http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2007/march/news_10987.html Natural History Museum, London]
*[http://www.orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?action=searchresult&Bird_ID=2750 Photographs]
*[http://www.kolkatabirds.com/orinus.htm Photographs from Kolkata]
*[http://www.thaibirding.com/locations/central/lpb.htm Laem Pak Bia]
*[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070413/nation.htm News reports]
*[http://birdguide-ru.livejournal.com/tag/acrocephalus%20orinus Large-billed reed warblers icubating clutches, photos by P.V. Kvartalnov]{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:warbler, reed, large-billed}}
[[Category:Acrocephalus|large-billed reed warbler]]
[[Category:Birds of Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Birds of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Birds of North India]]
[[Category:Vagrant birds of South Asia]]
[[Category:Vagrant birds of Southeast Asia]]
[[Category:Lazarus taxa]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1905|large-billed reed warbler]]

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Couiros22 at 09:05, 7 April 2017