Page 321 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

WARBLERS AND ALLIES
Order Passeriformes Family Sylviidae Species Sylvia communis
Whitethroat whitish eye-ring pale bluish
grey head
dull brown
pale underside, back brown
washed pink head
across chest
clear white
bright chestnut throat
panel on wings
long
dark tail, MALE
edged
white
FEMALE
IN FLIGHT pink-buff
below
pale orange-
brown legs

bright wings
with blackish
feather JUVENILE MALE
centres
(AUTUMN)
ypically a bird of open spaces with low bushes and scrub, the
TWhitethroat likes overgrown tracksides, railway embankments,
hedgerows and fence-lines with brambles, or thorny thickets around FLIGHT: low, bouncy or jerky, flitting, undulating,
heaths. It sings often, sometimes from a low perch, sometimes from with flicked, untidy tail.
a high wire, but frequently in short, jerky, bouncy song-flights. It is
often quite secretive, keeping low down in thick vegetation, but LIVELY SINGER
gives itself away by its irritable calls and eventually succumbs to its The male sings with much more
insatiable curiosity and appears out in the open. vigour than melody, from a bush
VOICE Harsh, grating tcharr, scolding, softer churr, sweet, top or overhead wire.
musical wheet-a-wheet-a-whit; song often in fluttery
song-flight, quick, chattery, rambling warble
with dry, scratchy quality.
NESTING Small, neat cup of grass and stems
low in thorny shrub; 4 or 5 eggs; 2 broods;
April–July.
FEEDING Picks insects from foliage; takes
lots of berries and some seeds in late summer
and autumn, sometimes visiting gardens.
SIMILAR SPECIES OCCURRENCE
Breeds almost throughout Europe
SUBALPINE WARBLER 32; darker except for Iceland and much of
see p.320
greyer longer tail Scandinavia. In bushy, dry, and
heathy places with low, thorny
duller and scrub, dense herbs such as nettles,
greyer hedges, and thickets; seen from
dark male is male is redder
legs pinker below April to October.
LESSER WHITETHROAT 32; below DARTFORD WARBLER 32; Seen in the UK
see p.317 see p.321 J F M A M JJ A S O N D
Length 14cm (5 1 ⁄2in) Wingspan 19–23cm (7 1 ⁄2 –9in) Weight 12–18g ( 7 ⁄16 – 5 ⁄8oz)
Social Solitary Lifespan Up to 5 years Status Secure
319