Nightingale reed warbler

Nightingale reed warbler
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Nightingale Reed-warbler
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Superfamily:	Sylvioidea
Family:	Acrocephalidae
Genus:	Acrocephalus
Species:	A. luscinius
Binomial name
Acrocephalus luscinius Quoy & Gaimard, 1830
Synonyms
Acrocephalus luscinia

The Nightingale Reed-warbler (Acrocephalus luscinius) is a threatened song bird living on a few islands in the western Pacific. The Chamorro name for the bird is ga`ga` karisu (bird of the reeds).

Subspecies

Three subspecies have been described for the species Acrocephalus luscinius, i.e. the Nightingale Reed-warbler:

• Acrocephalus luscinius luscinius, that is also considered a separate species (and if so, named Acrocephalus hiwae)
• Acrocephalus luscinius nijoi
• Acrocephalus luscinius yamashinae

Acrocephalus luscinius luscinius / Acrocephalus hiwae originally occurred on three islands: on Guam and on the two Northern Mariana Islands Saipan and Alamagan. On Guam, there are no Nightingale Reed-warblers anymore; the last sighting dates from 1969. On Saipan, an estimated population of 2700 specimen was reported in 2009, and on Alamagan 950 specimen were reported in 2010.

Acrocephalus luscinia nijoi originally occurred on the Northern Mariana Island Aguigan (also spelled Aguihan or Aguijan). Of this subspecies there never have been reports of a substantial population. In 1982 only four up to possibly 15 birds of the subspecies have been counted, and since 1995 none has been sighted, despite extended efforts to find specimens.

Acrocephalus luscinia yamashinae originally occurred on the Northern Mariana Island Pagan and "was extinct by the late 1970s". More precisely, in the 1970s, the 1980s, in 2000 and in 2010, the bird could not be found and is therefore presumed to be extinct.

Threats to the Nightingale Reed-Warbler

The existing populations of the Nightingale Reed-warbler are rapidly declining and believed to be threatened by several introduced species. One of them is a snake, Boiga irregularis, that has spread from Guam to Saipan and already decimated the populations of several bird species on Guam. Others include rats, cats and feral ungulates, escaped domesticated animals living in the wild, for example goats or sheep. An introduced plant, Ivy Gourd or Coccinia grandis, destroys the canopy of the trees Nightingale Reed-warblers build their nests in. Wetland destruction, fires and pesticides, as well as intense human land use (for example for agriculture, tourism or building homes) reduce the available habitat for the Nightingale Reed-warblers and others species.