Editing Bluethroat (section)

==Description==
The male plumage is brightest in spring and summer; after the summer moult, the fresh new feathers have pale tips which obscure the throat pattern. These tips then abrade in late winter and early spring to reveal the brigher bases of the feathers.<ref name="Shirihai"/> Females of all subspecies usually have just a blackish crescent and very limited blue on an otherwise cream throat and breast, though older individuals can develop more strongly male-like plumage.<ref name="Shirihai"/> They are not currently known to be distinguishable to subspecies on plumage, except for individuals with the most male-like plumage (females of the small ''L. s. namnetum'' and large ''L. s. magna'' can be identified on careful measurement).<ref name="Shirihai"/> Newly fledged juveniles are freckled and spotted dark brown above and below for a few weeks after fledging, then moulting to first-winter plumage, in which both sexes resemble adult females (and like them, are not identifiable to subspecies).<ref name="Shirihai"/><ref name="Collins"/>