Lesser whitethroat

Curruca curruca (Linnaeus, 1758)

The lesser whitethroat (Curruca curruca), also called the grey whitethroat, is a bird in the family Sylviidae and order Passeriformes, part of the songbirds and other perching birds. It is a small, migratory invertivore of shrubland, with an adult body mass of 11.44 g (up to 12.4 g) and a wingspan of 18 cm.

Photo: peterichman · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the lesser whitethroat

Clutches hold 4.6 eggs (up to 4.8), with 1.5 clutches per year, an incubation period of 11.5 days and sexual maturity at 1 year. Its lifespan is 7.6 years (up to 7.9 years), and the IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Least Concern, not a threatened category.

Weight: 11.4 g – 12.4 gsrc for Weight
Length: Not recorded
Wingspan: 18 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan: 7.59 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Invertivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan: 7.92 years
Main food: Not recorded
Habitat: shrublandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation: 11.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch: 4.6 – 4.8src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity: 12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year: 1.5src for Litters or clutches a year
Reproduction: Eggssrc for Reproduction
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 lesser whitethroat?

At 18 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the lesser whitethroat is about 11% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the lesser whitethroat

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

Lesser whitethroat (Curruca curruca) — Dr. Raju Kasambe · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the lesser whitethroat live?

Not recorded

What is the lesser whitethroat?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

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.
Like most "warblers", it is insectivorous, but will also take berries and other soft fruit. This is a bird of fairly open country and cultivation, with large bushes for nesting and some trees. The nest is built in low shrub or brambles, and 3 to 7 eggs are laid.

From the Wikipedia article “Lesser whitethroat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lesser_whitethroat&oldid=1351805039), 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.

Is the lesser whitethroat endangered?

The lesser 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 lesser whitethroat classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classAves
orderPasseriformes
familySylviidae
genusCurruca
SpeciesCurruca curruca (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Curruca sylviella, Motacilla curruca, Sylvia carruca, Sylvia curraca, Sylvia curruca, Sylvia currura, Sylvia garrula

Other names and names in other languages (79)

Grey whitethroatEnglish
LEWHEnglish
دخلة بيضاء الحنجرة صغريArabic
هازجة بيضاء الحنجرة صغرىArabic
Papafiga grisaAragonese
КилейекBashkir
Леска-завірушкаBelarusian
Леска-завiрушкаBelarusian
Завирушково коприварчеBulgarian
Малко белогушо коприварчеBulgarian
Devedig-drezBreton
tallarol xerraireCatalan
Пӗчӗк чечен кайӑкChuvash
Пĕчĕк чечен кайăкChuvash
pěnice pokřovníCzech
Llwydfron FachWelsh
Llwydfronnau BachWelsh
GærdesangerDanish
ZaungrasmückeGerman
KlappergrasmückeGerman
ΒουνοτσιροβάκοςGreek
babilema silvioEsperanto
Curruca zarcerillaSpanish
väike-põõsalindEstonian
Sasi-txinbotxoBasque
گلوسفید کهترPersian
سسک گلوسفید کوچکPersian
hernekerttuFinnish
NotuljómariFaroese
Fauvette babillardeFrench
Gilphíb bheagIrish
Geallan coille beagScottish Gaelic
Papuxa cincentaGalician
Fynnag vegManx
סבכי טוחניםHebrew
grmuša čevrljinkaCroatian
kis poszátaHungarian
ՄորուշահրիկArmenian
NetlusöngvariIcelandic
BigiarellaItalian
コノドジロムシクイJapanese
ВэдбгъэгухуKabardian
Боз сандуғашKazakh
쇠흰턱딱새Korean
Çivîka şeytanokKurdish
Gudhykwyn lyhaCornish
MëllerchenLuxembourgish
BabbelgraatschLuxembourgish
pilkoji devynbalsėLithuanian
gaišais ķauķisLatvian
мало грмушарчеMacedonian
Мало белогушесто грмушарчеMacedonian
വെൺMalayalam
വെൺതാലിക്കുരുവിMalayalam
श्वेतकंठी वटवट्याMarathi
श्वेतकण्ठ फिस्टोNepali
BraamsluiperDutch
MøllarNorwegian Nynorsk
møllerNorwegian
piegżaPolish
Piegża zwyczajnaPolish
papa-amoras-cinzentoPortuguese
Silvie micăRomanian
Славка-завирушкаRussian
Славка-мельничекRussian
МелничокRusyn
HeartavizarNorthern Sami
penica popolaváSlovak
mlinarčekSlovenian
Грмуша чаврљанкаSerbian
Grmuša čavrljankaSerbian
ärtsångareSwedish
นกคอขาวน้อยThai
Küçük AkgerdanTurkish
Küçük Ak Gerdanlı ÖtleğenTurkish
кропив’янка прудкаUkrainian
Кропив'янка прудкаUkrainian
白喉林莺Chinese
白喉林鶯Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist TAXREF Wikidata IUCN Red List

Relatives of the lesser whitethroat

Other species in the same genus Curruca.

Common whitethroat

Curruca communis

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

CompareLesser whitethroat vs Common whitethroat Lesser whitethroat vs Barred warbler Lesser whitethroat vs Eastern subalpine warbler Lesser 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 lesser whitethroat?

The lesser whitethroat is a bird in the family Sylviidae, grouped with the songbirds and other perching birds. It is also called the grey whitethroat.

How heavy is the lesser whitethroat?

The lesser whitethroat weighs 11.44 g as an adult, with values up to 12.4 g reported. It has a wingspan of 18 cm.

What does the lesser whitethroat eat?

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

What habitat does the lesser whitethroat live in?

The lesser whitethroat lives in shrubland. It is a migratory bird with a perching lifestyle.

Is the lesser whitethroat endangered?

No. The IUCN Red List assesses the lesser whitethroat globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.

How long does the lesser whitethroat live?

The lesser whitethroat has a lifespan of 7.6 years, with values up to 7.9 years reported.

How many eggs does the lesser whitethroat lay?

The lesser whitethroat lays 4.6 eggs per clutch, up to 4.8, with 1.5 clutches per year. Incubation lasts 11.5 days.

Who named the lesser whitethroat?

The lesser whitethroat was named by Linnaeus in 1758, written as Curruca curruca (Linnaeus, 1758).

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).

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Lesser whitethroat (Curruca curruca). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-whitethroat

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BibTeX

@misc{lesser_whitethroat_2026,
  title = {Lesser whitethroat (Curruca curruca)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-whitethroat},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}