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Whinchat

Whinchat

Saxicola rubetra

Identify the Whinchat by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Whinchat is a small, upright chat of open grassland that breeds across Europe and western Asia and winters in sub-Saharan Africa. Both sexes have a bold pale supercilium and streaked brown upperparts; breeding males have a rich orange throat and breast. It hunts insects from low perches such as tall weeds and fence posts. It has declined sharply in many parts of Europe.

Did you know?

  • Its song often includes phrases borrowed from at least a dozen other species.
  • “Whin” is an old word for gorse.

Voice

Song

About the species

Identification

A songbird the size of a Robin, with an orange-brown breast, a pale throat and a clear pale supercilium that stands out against the darker cheek; the upperparts are streaked brown. The male has white wing patches and white at the base of the tail. It is told from European Stonechat by the clear pale supercilium and paler head; confusion is most likely in autumn, when the wing patches and strong supercilium help.

Family

Turdidae

Size

Small (sparrow)

Colours

brown, orange, white, black

About the habitat

Open grassy country with tussocks and low shrubs – hay meadows, pastures, fallows, moorland, bog edges, field margins and young clear-cuts – with plenty of perches.

Diet

Mainly insects and other small invertebrates – beetles, flies, caterpillars and spiders – taken by sallying or dropping from low perches; berries and seeds in late summer.

Behaviour

Perches conspicuously on tall weeds, posts or shrub tops, flicking its wings and tail, and drops to the ground to catch prey. Males sing a short, scratchy warble with much mimicry; the call is a “hew-tek-tek”. The female builds a nest on the ground in dense vegetation, and both parents feed the young.

Sources

Photo: El Golli Mohamed, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tarier des près Zaghouan NP001.jpg

Sound: Pascal Christe, XC479662, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/479662

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whinchat

See also