Cetti's Warbler
Cettia cetti Temminck, 1820
Cettia sericea: Reiser, 1894: 54.
Order Passeriformes
Family Sylviidae
Conservation status: in Bulgaria: Endangered EN=[A2+ A3+ B1b(iv,v)+ B1c+ E], BDA-III; International: BeC-I-III, BoC-II.
General distribution. A Turkestan-Mediterranean species whose breeding area embraces Northwestern Africa, Asia Minor, Southwestern and Central Asia in the east to Altai and Western Mongolia. In Europe it breeds on the Pyrenean peninsula, in France, Belgium, Southern England, Italy, Malta, the Balkan peninsula, Romania, Cyprus and the region in front of the Caucasus Mountains.
Distribution and abundance in Bulgaria. Resident. In the past it bred only in Southern Bulgaria and rarely along the Black Sea coast [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. In the region of Burgas it was found once in Vaya Lake [6]. At present it breeds regularly in the Sandanski-Petrich field in the north up to Kresna Gorge and the Black Sea coast. A common breeding species in the Burgas lakes. It breeds sporadically and irregularly also at places in the Upper Thracian lowland and along the valleys of the rivers Tundzha and Mesta, and along the Struma – near the village of Shsishkovtsi, Kyustendil region. The numbers are subjected to large yearly fluctuations. According to Kostadinova (1997), between 100 and 1 000 pairs breed in Bulgaria, according to Nankinov et al. (2004) – 1 800 – 2 200 pairs, and 250-350 pairs according to Birdlife International (2004). At present the breeding population in Bulgaria can be estimated at 1 600 – 2 000 pairs, of which not less than 250-300 pairs in the Sandanski-Petrich field.
Habitats. Reedbeds and rush massifs in freshwater, semi-salty and supersalty lakes, marshes and canals, marshy mouths of rivers. Riverside willow and poplar forests, shrubs near wetlands in the transitional Mediterranean zone.
Biology. It sings all the year round, most actively between February and May. The female lays 4-5 brick-reddish eggs, that it incubates for about 13-14 days. The young ones stay in the nest for 15 days, and their parents feed them for almost 2 weeks after their leaving the nest. The species feeds on water insects, larvae, worms, mollusks [7].
Similar species. None.
Negative factors. Drying up of the wetlands; destruction of the riverside vegetation because of the extraction of gold and gravel from the river beds or in connection with "cleaning" the river beds; industrial pollution of the waters in the region of the Burgas lakes; extremely low temperatures in the winter.
Conservation measures taken. Protected according to the Biological Diversity Act. Some of the breeding places are included in Protected Territories: the reserves Atanasovsko Ezero (lake), Baltata and Ropotamo, and the protected localities Alepu and Poda.
Conservation measures needed. Protected according to the Biological Diversity Act. Full or partial restoration of the wetlands: Straldzha Swamp, the swamp near the village of Marikostinovo, Blagoevgrad region, Starchevskoto Swamp, the flooded forest in the Rupite locality, etc. Creation of new Protected Territories along the valleys of the rivers Struma, Tundzha and Maritsa (Sremski Prolom, Adata-Tundzha, the Ormana forest, the Marikostinovo Swamp, the Skrinski Gorge, Krumovo, protected zones according to Natura 2000 along the rivers mentioned, etc.
References. 1. Reiser, 1894; 2. Prostov, 1963; 3. Hubalek, 1978; 4. Simeonov, 1986; 5. Simeonov, Baeva, 1988; 6. Prostov, 1964; 7. Fitter, Roux (eds), 1971.
Author: Petar Shurulinkov
