Sylvia communis Latham, 1787 Sylvia cinereaBechstein 1803[2]
The common whitethroat or greater whitethroat (Curruca communis) is a common and widespread
typical warbler which breeds throughout
Europe and across much of temperate western
Asia. This small
passerinebird is strongly
migratory, and winters in tropical
Africa,
Arabia, and
Pakistan.
Taxonomy
The English ornithologist
John Latham described the common whitethroat in 1783 in his A General Synopsis of Birds but introduced the
binomial nameSylvia communis in the supplement to this work which was published in 1787.[3][4] The specific communis is
Latin for "common".[5] The common whitethroat is now placed in the
genusCurruca that was introduced by the German naturalist
Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1802.[6][7]
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.[8][9] A
molecular phylogenetic study of the Sylviidae published in 2011 found that within the genus Curruca the common whitethroat and the lesser whitethroat are members of different
clades and are thus not
sister species.[10]
C. c. communis (
Latham, 1787) – breeds in Europe to north Turkey and north Africa; winters in west and central Africa
C. c. volgensis (
Domaniewski, 1915) – breeds in southeast European Russia, west Siberia and north Kazakhstan; winters in east and south Africa
C. c. icterops (
Ménétries, 1832) – breeds in central Turkey to Turkmenistan and Iran; winters in east and south Africa
C. c. rubicola (
Stresemann, 1928) – breeds in mountains of central Asia; winters in east and south Africa
Description
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, slightly nasal, call sounds like wed-wed or woid-woid. The warning cry is long-pulled, rough tschehr which resembles that of the
Dartford warbler.
Distribution and habitat
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 capitalise on food supplies before departing their breeding and non-breeding grounds.[11]
^Helbig, A. J. (2001): Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus Sylvia. In: Shirihai, Hadoram: Sylvia warblers: 24–25 Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
ISBN0-691-08833-0
^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.
hdl:2263/68189.
Further reading
Shirihai, Hadoram; Gargallo, Gabriel; Helbig, Andreas J. (2001). Sylvia Warblers: Identification, Taxonomy and Phylogeny of the Genus Sylvia. London: Christopher Helm.
ISBN978-071363984-1.