Whitethroat

The Whitethroat is a bird which is known scientifically by the name of Sylvia communis. These birds are very common and are typically widespread warblers. The breeding of these birds occur all over the European countries as well as across the major regions of temperate western parts of Asia.

These are small passerine birds which belong to the family of Sylviidae. The birds possess a strong migratory habit and migrate to India, Arabia as well as tropical Africa during the winter season.

These birds are one among the several species of Sylvia which has distinct male plumage as well as female plumage. Both the male as well as female birds possess a brown colour for the upper parts of their body whereas the lower parts of the bodies of these birds are buff. These birds possess in their secondary remiges chestnut fringes.

The head of the adult male birds are grey in colour and the throat of the male birds is white in colour. The female birds of this species do not possess a grey coloured head. The throat of the female birds is duller when compared to males.

The song which these birds sing is fast as well as scratchy and the tone will be somewhat like a scolding one.

This species of the birds were considered by some people as closely related to Lesser Whitethroat. The Lesser Whitethroat is a species which had evolved only at the final stage of last ice age. These birds are similar to Chiffchaffs as well as Willow Warbler. But it was realised by them that this is a wrong notion. Now it has been proved that the white throats are not reliable morphological markers for depicting the relationships in the species of Sylvia.

The wing patches which are chestnut in colour similar to white throats look as if they are plesiomorphic but they indicate the phylogeny in a better fashion.

The white throats have wings whose span possesses a size of about 18 cm to 23 cm. These white throats possess a weight has a range falling between 18 grams and eighteen grams. Both the male as well as female birds of this species have wings which are Chestnut brown in colour. The mantle is greyish brown in colour. The breast of both the male birds as well as the female birds is pinkish buff in colour.

The belly is white in colour and the tails of birds belonging to both the sexes have a border which is white. The eyes are pale brown in colour and contain one eye ring in each of the eyes which is white.

During breeding, the major foods of these birds are insects, especially caterpillars, beetle as well as bugs. But as the summer reaches the last stage and autumn starts, they start feeding on berries.

The nests in these birds are made by the males with the help of grass as well as roots. The nests of these birds are in the shape of a deep cup. The nest is lined by the female birds using wool, down as well as hairs.

The incubation of the eggs is done by both the parents and once they hatch, the young ones are fed by both the parents.