Lesser Whitethroat
Sylvia curruca
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Cordats)
- ClassAves (Aus)
- OrderPasseriformes
- FamilySylviidae (Sylviid Warblers and Allies)
- GenusSylvia
- SpeciesSylvia curruca (Lesser Whitethroat)
The lesser whitethroat (Curruca curruca) is a common and widespread Old World warbler which breeds in temperate Europe, except the southwest, and in the western and central Palearctic. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, wintering in Africa just south of the Sahara, Arabia and India. Unlike many sylviid warblers, the sexes are almost identical. This is a small species with a grey back, whitish underparts, a grey head with a darker "bandit mask" through the eyes and a white throat. It is slightly smaller than the common whitethroat, and lacks the chestnut wings and uniform head-face colour of that species. The lesser whitethroat's song is a fast and rattling sequence of tet or che calls, quite different from the common whitethroat's scolding song. Wikipedia →
Closest Relatives at Sinharaja Forest Reserve
Yellow-eyed Babbler
Chrysomma sinense
Square-tailed Bulbul
Hypsipetes ganeesa
Orange-billed Babbler
Turdoides rufescens
Sri Lanka Drongo
Dicrurus lophorinus
White-bellied Drongo
Dicrurus caerulescens
Orange Minivet
Pericrocotus flammeus
Black-capped Bulbul
Pycnonotus melanicterus
Ceylon Magpie
Urocissa ornata
Pale-billed Flowerpecker
Dicaeum erythrorhynchos
Ceylon Myna
Gracula ptilogenys
Purple-rumped Sunbird
Leptocoma zeylonica
Spot-winged Thrush
Geokichla spiloptera
📅 Monthly Probability
Fewer than 5 records of Lesser Whitethroat at Sinharaja Forest Reserve — not enough to chart months honestly.
☀️ When They're Spotted
Most active during daytime hours (6am–6pm) · across all parks (global)
Global Distribution
Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.
where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is) · parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there