Common whitethroat

Curruca communis (Latham, 1787)

The common whitethroat (Curruca communis), also called Whitethroat or Greater whitethroat, is a bird in the family Sylviidae, order Passeriformes, within the songbirds and other perching birds. It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 14.5 g and a wingspan of 20 cm.

Photo: Herwig Winter · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the common whitethroat

This migratory, perching invertivore lives in shrubland and has a geographic range of 14,120,000 km². It lays 4.5 eggs per clutch, with 2 clutches per year and an incubation period of 11 days, and it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Weight: 14.2 g – 15.5 gsrc for Weight
Length: Not recorded
Wingspan: 20 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan: 7.5 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Invertivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan: 8.92 years
Main food: Not recorded
Habitat: shrublandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation: 11 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch: 4.5src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity: 12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year: 2src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle: Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration: Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record: Not recorded

How big is the common whitethroat?

At 20 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the common whitethroat is about 12% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the common whitethroat

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Common whitethroat (Curruca communis) — Alexis Lours · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the common whitethroat live?

Not recorded

What is the common whitethroat?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The greater whitethroat or common whitethroat (Curruca communis) is a common and widespread Old World 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.

From the Wikipedia article “Common whitethroat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Common_whitethroat&oldid=1370535713), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

What does the common whitethroat sound like?

Merhad77 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Is the common whitethroat endangered?

The common whitethroat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

LCLeast Concern
NTNear Threatened
VUVulnerable
ENEndangered
CRCritically Endangered
EWExtinct in the Wild
EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the common whitethroat classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classAves
orderPasseriformes
familySylviidae
genusCurruca
SpeciesCurruca communis (Latham, 1787)

Synonyms Communis communis, Curruca caniceps, Curruca cineracea, Curruca cinerea, Curruca cinerea persica, Curruca fruticeti, Curruca sylvia, Ficedula cinerea, Ficedula curruca, Ficedula curruca cineraria, Motacilla fruticeti, Motacilla rufa, Motacilla sylvia, Sylvia affinis, Sylvia cineraria, Sylvia cinerea, Sylvia cinerea, Sylvia communis, Sylvia fruticeti, Sylvia fruticeti, Sylvia rufa

Other names and names in other languages (77)

Greater whitethroatEnglish
WhitethroatEnglish
WitkeelsangerAfrikaans
دخلة بيضاء الحنجرةArabic
هازجة بيضاء الحنجرة الكبرىArabic
papuda les sebesAsturian
Шэрая лескаBelarusian
Белогушо коприварчеBulgarian
Голямо белогушо коприварчеBulgarian
Devedig-spernBreton
tallareta comunaCatalan
Tallareta vulgarCatalan
Сăрă чечен кайăкChuvash
Ахаль чечен кайӑкChuvash
pěnice hnědokřídláCzech
LlwydfronWelsh
LlwydfronnauWelsh
TornsangerDanish
DorngrasmückeGerman
ΘαμνοτσιροβάκοςGreek
Blankgorĝa silvioEsperanto
blankagorĝa silvioEsperanto
Curruca zarceraSpanish
pruunselg-põõsalindEstonian
Sasi-txinboBasque
سسک گلوسفید معمولیPersian
pensaskerttuFinnish
TyrniljómariFaroese
Fauvette grisetteFrench
SuurnpiiperNorthern Frisian
HagekrûperWestern Frisian
GilphíbIrish
Gilbhíb mórIrish
gealan-coilleScottish Gaelic
gealanan-coilleScottish Gaelic
Geallan coilleScottish Gaelic
Papuxa comúnGalician
Fynnag ny keylleyManx
סבכי קוציםHebrew
grmuša pjenicaCroatian
mezei poszátaHungarian
Մոխրագույն շահրիկArmenian
ÞyrnisöngvariIcelandic
ßyrnisöngvariIcelandic
SterpazzolaItalian
ノドジロムシクイJapanese
დიდი თეთრყელა ასპუჭაკაGeorgian
Сұр сандуғашKazakh
큰흰목휘파람새Korean
GudhykwynCornish
Konna gwynnCornish
HeckegraatschLuxembourgish
rudoji devynbalsėLithuanian
brūnspārnu ķauķisLatvian
обично грмушарчеMacedonian
Bekkafik aħmarMaltese
GrasmusDutch
tornsongarNorwegian Nynorsk
cierniówkaPolish
papa-amoras-comumPortuguese
Papa-amorasPortuguese
Fustgetta da spinatschaRomansh
Silvie de câmpRomanian
Серая славкаRussian
MiesttavizarNorthern Sami
penica obyčajnáSlovak
siva penicaSlovenian
rjava penicaSlovenian
Bilbilthi i përhimëAlbanian
Bilbilthi i përhimtëAlbanian
Обична грмушаSerbian
Obična grmušaSerbian
törnsångareSwedish
Ak Gerdanlı ÖtleğenTurkish
кропив’янка сіраUkrainian
灰白喉林莺Chinese
灰白喉林鶯Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist TAXREF Wikidata IUCN Red List

Relatives of the common whitethroat

Other species in the same genus Curruca.

Lesser whitethroat

Curruca curruca

Sylviidae

Barred warbler

Curruca nisoria

Sylviidae

Eastern subalpine warbler

Curruca cantillans

Sylviidae

Sardinian warbler

Curruca melanocephala

Sylviidae

Asian desert warbler

Curruca nana

Sylviidae

Western Orphean warbler

Curruca hortensis

Sylviidae

CompareCommon whitethroat vs Lesser whitethroat Common whitethroat vs Barred warbler Common whitethroat vs Eastern subalpine warbler Common whitethroat vs Sardinian warbler

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the common whitethroat?

The common whitethroat is a bird in the family Sylviidae, order Passeriformes, grouped with the songbirds and other perching birds.

How much does the common whitethroat weigh?

An adult Common whitethroat weighs 14.5 g, with values from 14.2 to 15.5 g reported by sources. Its wingspan is 20 cm.

What does the common whitethroat eat?

The common whitethroat is an invertivore, and its trophic level is listed as omnivore.

Is the common whitethroat endangered?

No. It is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

How long does the common whitethroat live?

Its lifespan is given as 7.5 years, with values up to 8.9 years reported by sources.

How many eggs does the common whitethroat lay?

It lays 4.5 eggs per clutch and has 2 clutches per year, with an incubation period of 11 days.

Is the common whitethroat migratory?

Yes, the common whitethroat is migratory. It lives in shrubland and has a geographic range of 14,120,000 km².

Who named the common whitethroat?

Curruca communis was named by Latham in 1787, written as (Latham, 1787).

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Embed a card for this animal on your own site

Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.

<iframe src="https://creaturedata.com/embed/animals/common-whitethroat" title="Common whitethroat on CreatureData" width="360" height="520" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy"></iframe>

Preview the card

APA

CreatureData. (2026). Common whitethroat (Curruca communis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-whitethroat

MLA

“Common whitethroat (Curruca communis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-whitethroat.

BibTeX

@misc{common_whitethroat_2026,
  title = {Common whitethroat (Curruca communis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-whitethroat},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}