Page 319 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

WARBLERS AND ALLIES
Order Passeriformes Family Sylviidae Species Sylvia curruca
Lesser Whitethroat

dark smudge
olive-grey to
plain brown blue-grey cap through eye
wings
dull grey-brown dark patch
back on cheeks
white MALE
sides to clear white
dark tail throat
pale grey
IN FLIGHT head
broken white
eye-ring
whitish
grey-brown underside,
wings
dark grey washed pale
FEMALE legs pink
white
chin

MALE JUVENILE
mall, neat, compact, dark-legged, and
Sdark-masked, the Lesser Whitethroat is
a secretive warbler of woodland edges and FLIGHT: quick, short, flitting flights with undulating
thick, old hedgerows. It is easily located by its action; fast, whirring wingbeats.
song, but often moves to sing again a few metres WOODEN RATTLE
away before it is seen. In autumn, it can be easy The male sits upright as he sings,
to find on shrubs and trees with berries, usually moving to a new perch
sometimes with other warblers but not forming before the next loud rattled phrase.
properly coordinated flocks.Young birds at this
time are particularly bright and smart.
VOICE Sharp, short, metallic tak, very thin chi;
song begins with low, quiet, muffled warble,
becoming short, loud, wooden rattle
chikachikachikachikachikachikachika.
NESTING Cup of twigs or grass, lined with hair
and roots, in shrub; 4–6 eggs; 1 brood; May–June.
FEEDING Picks insects from foliage; eats many
berries in late summer.
OCCURRENCE
SIMILAR SPECIES Summer visitor and breeding bird
from April to October in most of
WHITETHROAT 3 red eye-ring BLACKCAP 32; dark Europe west to mid-France and
similar to 32; see p.316 cap
see p.319 UK; not in Italy, Spain, Portugal,
N Scandinavia, and Iceland. In
pinker quite tall, dense thickets often at
rusty wings below woodland edge, or as part of tall,
dense hedges.
pale legs grey
SUBALPINE WARBLER throat Seen in the UK
32; see p.320 JF M A M J JA S O N D
Length 13cm (5in) Wingspan 17–19cm (6 1 ⁄2 –7 1 ⁄2in) Weight 10–16g ( 3 ⁄8 – 9 ⁄16oz)
Social Solitary Lifespan Up to 5 years Status Secure
317