Lesser Whitethroat

The lesser whitethroat is a small warbler with a grey back, whitish underparts, a grey head with a darker bandit mask through the eyes and a white throat. Unlike many related warblers the sexes are almost identical. It is slightly smaller than the common whitethroat and lacks that species' chestnut wings and uniform head. Its song is a fast, rattling series of tet or che notes, quite unlike the common whitethroat's scolding song (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a common, widespread bird of fairly open country and cultivation with large bushes, breeding in temperate Europe except the south-west and across the western and central Palearctic. It is strongly migratory, wintering in Africa just south of the Sahara, Arabia and India. It eats insects but also takes berries and other soft fruit, and nests low in a shrub or brambles, laying three to seven eggs. SoIB 2023 lists it as mainly a winter migrant in India with a very large range, finds its current trend stable, and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).