Profile
In flight
Songbirds
Common Chiffchaff
Phylloscopus collybita
- rare
- 55 km/h
- Least Concern
Sings its own name endlessly from the treetops. The most honest courier in Europe.
- Population
- Global population estimated at roughly 75.9-120 million mature individuals (BirdLife DataZone, 2018 assessment), with the European breeding population (~95% of the global range) stable over the last three generations (~10 years).
- Habitat
- Open deciduous and mixed woodland with taller trees (generally above ~5 m) and dense ground/shrub cover for nesting during the breeding season; in winter shifts to scrub, hedgerows, reedbeds, and areas near water, including mild urban parks and gardens where it increasingly overwinters.
- Fun fact
- The Common Chiffchaff is named onomatopoeically for its simple, repetitive "chiff-chaff" song (echoed in other European names like Dutch tjiftjaf and German Zilpzalp) — one of the easiest ways to distinguish it from the nearly identical-looking Willow Warbler; its species epithet "collybita" is a wry nod to a money-changer, since the song was likened to jingling coins.
- Range
- Breeds across most of Europe and temperate Asia east to eastern Siberia, north to roughly 70°N, with isolated breeding populations in northwest Africa, northern Turkey, and northwestern Iran. Winters mainly in southern and western Europe, sub-Saharan and North Africa, and southern Asia; some birds now overwinter in northwestern Europe due to milder winters.
- Diet
- Insectivorous, gleaning and hawking small insects (flies, aphids, and other invertebrates from 50+ families) and the eggs/larvae of butterflies and moths from foliage; consumes roughly a third of its body weight in insects daily.
- Size
- 0.11 m
- Wingspan
- 0.18 m
- Lifespan
- 7 years
