Whinchat

Whinchat
Adult male in breeding plumage
Song
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Saxicola
Species:
S. rubetra
Binomial name
Saxicola rubetra
Range of S. rubetra (Compiled by: BirdLife International and Handbook of the Birds of the World (2016) 2016.)
  Breeding
  Non-breeding
Synonyms
  • Motacilla rubetra Linnaeus, 1758
  • Pratincola rubetra (Linnaeus)[2]
Adult female Chemnitz, Germany
adult female, Uganda

The whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) is a small migratory passerine bird breeding in Europe and western Asia and wintering in central Africa. At one time considered to be in the thrush family, Turdidae, it is now placed in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. Both sexes have a strong supercilium, brownish upper parts mottled darker, a pale throat and breast, a pale buff to whitish belly, and a blackish tail with white bases to the outer tail feathers, but in the breeding season, the male has an orange-buff throat and breast.

The whinchat is a solitary species, favouring open grassy country with rough vegetation and scattered small shrubs. It perches in elevated locations ready to pounce on the insects and other small invertebrates that form its diet. The nest is built by the female on the ground in coarse vegetation, with a clutch of four to seven eggs being laid. The hen incubates the eggs for about thirteen days and then both parents feed the nestlings. Fledging takes place about eighteen days after hatching and the parents continue to feed the young for another fortnight. Moulting takes place in late summer before the migration southwards, and again on the wintering grounds in Africa before the migration northwards in spring. The whinchat is a common species with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified it as being of "least concern".

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Saxicola rubetra". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22710156A87906903. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22710156A87906903.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ Bonhote, J. Lewis (1907). Birds of Britain. illustrated by H.E. Dresser. London: Adam and Charles Black. pp. 27/29. OCLC 1451688.