Chats, Old World Flycatchers, and Allies
Whinchat
Saxicola rubetra
- 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.
Countries
- Albania
- Algeria
- Andorra
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrain
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Benin
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- DR Congo
- Egypt
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Ethiopia
- Finland
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Hungary
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kosovo
- Kuwait
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Liberia
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malawi
- Mali
- Malta
- Mauritania
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Netherlands
- Nigeria
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Oman
- Palestine
- Poland
- Qatar
- Republic of the Congo
- Romania
- Russia
- Rwanda
- San Marino
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Sierra Leone
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Spain
- Sudan
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- Uzbekistan
- Western Sahara
- Yemen
- Zambia
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Whinchat
- eBird: sightings, maps and photos
- xeno-canto: sound recordings
- Birds of the World: full species account (subscription)
- BirdLife DataZone: status and threats
- IUCN Red List (threat status)
- AviList global checklist (taxonomy)
Last updated September 29, 2026.
