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The Delightfully Round Bearded Reedling
The internet’s favorite borb has a remarkable comeback story.
© Pete Richman
The Bearded Reedling is a wetland songbird that’s enjoying a boom in both population and popularity. Barely larger than a chickadee, the male reedlings are often photographed with their feathers puffed out to near spherical proportions, earning them the nickname of “the roundest bird in the world.” Reedlings breed across much of Europe and central Asia. But in the United Kingdom, where they are called Bearded Tits, the little birds were nearly wiped out in the 1940s. Thanks to decades of intensive reedbed restoration — and the bird’s capacity to rear several broods in a season — there are now more than 600 breeding pairs of Bearded Readlings in the UK today.
BirdNote®
The Delightfully Round Bearded Reedling
Written by Jonathan Feakins
This is BirdNote.
The Bearded Reedling is a wetland songbird that’s enjoying a boom in both population and popularity.
[Bearded Reedling]
The birds have rufous bodies, a light gray cap, and white faces. But Bearded Reedlings are named for the male’s striking black facial markings that resemble a Fu Manchu mustache — or, maybe makeup for the rock band KISS. It gives the bird a stern expression at odds with their diminutive size. Barely larger than a chickadee, the male reedlings are often photographed with their feathers puffed out to near spherical proportions, their spindly legs grasping parallel stalks as if performing the splits.
These images are so delightful that search results for “roundest bird in the world” serve up a gallery of Bearded Reedlings.
[Bearded Reedling]
The internet’s favorite borb is also a remarkable comeback story. Reedlings breed across much of Europe and central Asia. But in the United Kingdom, where they’re called Bearded Tits, a confluence of harsh winters and habitat loss reduced their numbers to just two pairs by the 1940s.
Thanks to decades of intensive reedbed restoration — and the bird’s capacity to rear several broods in a season — there are now more than 600 breeding pairs of Bearded Readlings in the UK today.
[Bearded Reedling]
So don’t be fooled by that adorable scowl. These wetland wonders can give us all something to cheer for.
[Bearded Reedling]
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Producer: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York and the Xeno-Canto Foundation. Bearded Reedling [XC599024] recorded by A. Henderson, [ML63563531] by A. Spencer, and [ML513101691] by E. Matheu.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2026 BirdNote February 2026 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# BEAREE-01-2026-02-26 BEAREE-01
Reference:
https://www.rawbirds.com/2014/05/bearded-reedling-male-panurus-biarmicus.html
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/zoology/bearded-reedling-or-bearded-tit
https://insideecology.com/2025/01/29/bearded-tit-breeding-boom-success-celebrated-on-world-wetlands-day/
https://greatbigstory.com/is-this-the-roundest-bird-in-the-world
Michael Stein
Narrator