Grassbirds and Bush-Warblers

Thirteen species, and almost every one of them is defined less by what it looks like than by how hard it is to see. This is a family of small, streaked, brown-on-brown birds that live low in reeds, rank grass and scrub, moving through cover rather than over it, and most are identified as much by voice, habitat and range as by any single field mark visible in a photograph.

Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler is a good example of the whole family's working method: a bird that spends most of its time deep in reed cover, climbing a stem to sing or call in the open for only a few seconds at a time before dropping back down. The reward for waiting it out is a clean, streaked portrait against reeds; the cost is that most encounters with this group end with a heard-only tick and nothing on the memory card.

The bush-warblers (Locustella and Bradypterus) are the true skulkers of the group, rarely seen well outside of scrub and grass at close range. The grassbirds — Broad-tailed, Bristled and Striated — are a little more visible, working reed and tall grass edges more in the open, and Striated Grassbird in particular is often seen perched up and singing rather than staying hidden.