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Common Chiffchaff
Phylloscopus collybita | Tjiftjaf | Mosquitero común
The Chiffchaff calls its own name and is thereby the first real herald of spring in the wood. Beneath that simple song lies an awkward complex of forms, of which Siberian Chiffchaff sparks argument every autumn.
Voice
The song is an irregular, high, clear counting-out of chiff-chaff-chiff-chiff-chaff, delivered from late February into July and reviving briefly in late summer. It is often preceded by a soft grunting trrt-trrt audible only at close range. Contact call: a cheerful upslurred hweet, given in winter too.
Recording: Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Identification
Small, round-headed and olive-brown, with no wing bar, a short diffuse supercilium and a dark eye-stripe. Underparts are off-white with a yellow wash on the breast sides and undertail. Legs and bill are dark to black, the primary projection is short, and the tail is constantly flicked downwards. Sexes alike; fresh autumn birds are yellower and brighter.
Confusion species
Willow Warbler is the real problem: it usually has pale, flesh-coloured legs, a longer and more sharply defined supercilium, a longer primary projection and a sleeker, more elongated look. The call settles it: Willow Warbler gives a disyllabic rising hoo-eet, Chiffchaff a monosyllabic high hweet. Yellow-browed Warbler shows a bold wing bar and pale crown stripe.
Habitat
Broadleaved and mixed woodland with tall trees for song posts and dense low cover for the ground nest, plus woodland edges, scrub, parks and overgrown gardens. Outside the breeding season also reed fringes, willow carr, sewage works, riverine woods and olive groves.
Range and movements
From Ireland to Siberia. In the Netherlands one of the commonest breeding birds, present March to October, with a small number wintering in sheltered wet places. In Iberia the form ibericus, Iberian Chiffchaff, breeds in the humid woods of the north and west, while in winter northern Chiffchaffs flood the entire peninsula.
- Resident
- Breeding (summer)
- Winter
- Passage
- Migration direction
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
Where and when to look
The last week of March, from sunrise for an hour: song density peaks and the leaves are not yet out. For a clean view of leg colour, find a bird feeding low in willow or reed. In Spanish winter, sewage works and reed fringes repay a visit, with dozens hunting together.
Conservation status
Numerous and increasing across most of Europe, helped by milder winters and a longer breeding season. Persistent drought in Sahelian wintering areas and the loss of shrub layer and woodland understorey through browsing are the main pressures.