the.com/whinchat
a thumb-sized songbird that flies to Africa and back to nest in your weeds
means A small migratory songbird (Saxicola rubetra) of open grassland and scrub, brown-streaked with a pale stripe over the eye, known for perching atop low plants and its sharp, chacking call.
from A compound of "whin," a northern British and Scots word for gorse or furze (the prickly yellow shrub it loves to perch on), and "chat," a name given to several small birds for their scratchy, clicking calls — so quite literally "the chattering bird of the whin." "Whin" itself is likely of Scandinavian origin, a cousin of words in the old Norse-influenced dialects of the north.
- epic commute
- Migrates thousands of miles to sub-Saharan Africa yearly
- name origin
- Named for whin, the gorse it loves perching on
- loud for size
- Mimics other birds and clicks like pebbles
- vanishing act
- UK numbers crashed, now red-listed conservation concern
- ground floor
- Nests hidden in grass, not trees