Common whitethroat

The common whitethroat (Curruca communis) is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds throughout Europe and across much of temperate western Asia. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, and winters in tropical Africa, Arabia, and Pakistan.

Common whitethroat

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sylviidae
Genus: Curruca
Species:
C. communis
Binomial name
Curruca communis
Latham, 1787
Range of S. communis     Breeding      Passage      Non-breeding

This is one of several Curruca species that has distinct male and female plumages. Both sexes are mainly brown above and buff below, with chestnut fringes to the secondary remiges. The adult male has a grey head and a white throat. The female lacks the grey head, and the throat is duller. The whitethroat's song is fast and scratchy, with a scolding tone.

The hoarse, a little bit nasal call sounds like wed-wed or woid-woid. The warning cry is long-pulled, rough tschehr which resembles that of the Dartford warbler.

This species may appear to be closely related to the lesser whitethroat, the species having evolved only during the end of the last ice age similar to the willow warbler and chiffchaffs. However, researchers found the presence of a white throat is an unreliable morphological marker for relationships in Curruca, and the greater and lesser whitethroats are not closely related.[2][3] Chestnut wing patches, like white throats, seem to be plesiomorphic, but indicate phylogeny better. Nonetheless, apart from the whitethroat not being closely related to the lesser whitethroat group, little can be resolved as it seems a fairly basal taxon.[4]

Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden, Germany
Female with chicks

This is a bird of open country and cultivation, with bushes for nesting. The nest is built in low shrub or brambles, and 3–7 eggs are laid. Like most warblers, it is insectivorous, but will also eat berries and other soft fruit.

In Europe, western and eastern populations of common whitethroats have contrasting moulting and pre-migratory fueling strategies to capitilise on food supplies before departing their breeding and non-breeding grounds.[5]

The specific communis is Latin for "common".[6]

An older scientific name for the whitethroat is Sylvia cinerea.[7]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Sylvia communis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Helbig, A. J. (2001): Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus Sylvia. In: Shirihai, Hadoram: Sylvia warblers: 24–25 Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. ISBN 0-691-08833-0
  3. Dietzen, Christian, Eduardo Garcia-del-Ray, Guillermo D. Castro, and Michael Wink. "Phylogenetic Differentiation of Sylvia Species (Aves: Passeriformes) of the Atlantic Islands (Macaronesia) Based on Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Data and Morphometrics." Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 95 (2008): 161–62. Birding Macronesia. Macaronesian Institute of Field Ornithology, 2011. Web. 19 July 2014. <http://birdingmacaronesia.com/mifo/pdfs/CO%20Garcia-del-Rey%20et%20al%20(2008)%20(BJLS)%20SYLVIA.pdf Archived 2014-07-28 at the Wayback Machine>
  4. Jønsson, Knud A. & Fjeldså, Jon (2006): A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri). Zool. Scripta 35(2): 149–186. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00221.x (HTML abstract)
  5. Remisiewicz, M.; Bernitz, Z.; Bernitz, H.; Burman, M.S.; Raijmakers, J.M.H.; Raijmakers, H.F.A.; Underhill, L.G.; Rostkowska, A.; Barshep, Y.; Soloviev, S.; Siwek, I. (2019). "Contrasting strategies for wing‐moult and pre‐migratory fuelling in western and eastern populations of Common Whitethroat Sylvia communis". Ibis. 161 (4): 824–838. doi:10.1111/ibi.12686.
  6. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 115, 376. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  7. For instance in: Keulemans, J.G. (1869) - Onze vogels in huis en tuin (Dutch: our birds in home and garden), vol. 1. De Grasmusch (on Dutch Wikisource).

Further reading
  • Shirihai, Hadoram; Gargallo, Gabriel; Helbig, Andreas J. (2001). Sylvia Warblers: Identification, Taxonomy and Phylogeny of the Genus Sylvia. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 978-071363984-1.
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