According to Birdlife international news, the breeding site of one of the world's least known birds, Large-billed Reed-warbler Acrocephalus orinus, has been discovered in the remote and rugged Wakhan Corridor of the Pamir Mountains of north-eastern Afghanistan.

Using a combination of field observations, museum specimens, DNA sequencing, and the first known audio recording of the species, researchers verified the discovery by capturing and releasing almost 20 birds earlier this year, the largest number ever recorded.

The discovery of Large-billed Reed-warblers in Afghanistan represents a watershed moment in the study of this bird. The first specimen was discovered in India in 1867, with more than a century elapsing before a second discovery of a single bird in Thailand in 2006 which was first reported by BirdLife International.

A preliminary paper on the finding appears in the most recent edition of Birding ASIA, the magazine of the Oriental Bird Club.

(ALREEM EN, 18 January 2010)