Whinchat
Photo: El Golli Mohamed · CC BY-SA 4.0

Chats, Old World Flycatchers, and Allies

Whinchat

Saxicola rubetra

LCLeast Concern
Family
Chats, Old World Flycatchers, and Allies (Muscicapidae)
Order
Passeriformes

Overview

The whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) is a small migratory passerine bird breeding in Europe and western Asia and wintering in central Africa. At one time considered to be in the thrush family, Turdidae, it is now placed in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. Both sexes have a strong supercilium, brownish upper parts mottled darker, a pale throat and breast, a pale buff to whitish belly, and a blackish tail with white bases to the outer tail feathers, but in the breeding season, the male has an orange-buff throat and breast.
The whinchat is a solitary species, favouring open grassy country with rough vegetation and scattered small shrubs.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Range and habitat

Breeds Western Palearctic; winters to tropical and southern Africa.

Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.

Sources and further reading

Last updated September 29, 2026.