Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) is a small bird, about 12 to 14 cm long, which we most often observe as it sings its song from the top of a shrub or from a high stem, watching for prey. In the meantime it stands upright, and this finely colored bird slightly nervously shakes its short tail. Its throat and chest are reddish in color, gradually fading into a dirty pink belly. The yellow-brown back and tail are black-speckled, and the legs are black. The male of the whinchat has almost black cheeks, and above the eye there is a distinctly white stripe. This stripe in the female is the same color as the chest, and her cheeks are brownish. In appearance it is very similar to the prosnik. The male of this closely related species will be recognized by the white collar and the absence of a white eyebrow stripe.
Whinchat in Slovenia nests in wetlands and floodplain meadows as well as in dry meadows and pastures. In autumn it migrates to Africa, where it overwinters. In spring, when the colors of flowering plants enliven its habitat, it returns to our lands and on the ground it builds a nest that it usually hides well under some shrub. If conditions are favorable, it can raise two broods from May to June; if food is scarcer, one. The whinchat feeds on insects, which it watches from its vantage point, then swoops down onto the ground after them.
Europe is home to approximately three-quarters of the world's whinchat population. It is estimated that in Europe more than 5.4 million pairs nest, and that its population is currently stable. The whinchat population in Slovenia is fairly large, estimated at around 4,000 pairs, but is decreasing. Therefore, in Slovenia it is defined as a highly endangered nesting bird, as it is tied to sensitive habitats that, due to the abandonment of traditional land use, are still rapidly disappearing.
