Short abstract from the book: he lesser whitethroat is a common breeding bird in many different habitats in all parts of Denmark. Most birds arrive at
the breeding grounds from late April to early May and depart
in August-September. Migrants pass through Denmark in
April-June and August-September. The first lesser whitethroat
was ringed in Denmark in 1918, with the highest number ringed in 1995 (2,238). The majority of the recovered birds were
ringed in May and around half of them west of the Great Belt.
The recoveries and mean positions show that the ringed birds
are mainly of Danish origin, although some birds have also
been found in southern Sweden. In August the mean position
is in northern Germany and in September in Hungary. Most
of the birds migrate SE through central and eastern Europe.
The first bird reached Egypt on 20 July, but the majority of
the recoveries from the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle
East are from 15 August to 16 October. No birds have been
recovered during winter. The spring migration seems to follow the same route as in autumn, perhaps slightly further east.
Nine birds have been recovered from Syria, the Lebanon and
Israel from 27 March to 6 May. In April the mean position is
in northern Germany; the first recovery from Denmark is 16
April. The fastest bird migrated 576 km from Christiansø to
Finland in four days in late May (144 km/day). Most of the
recovered birds have been recorded by ringers (71 %). Of 101
dead birds, most collided with vehicles, were hunted, killed
by cats or collided with windows.
Read more about the species in the chapter from The Danish Bird Migration Atlashere
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