General
Chiffchaff: Small leaf warbler with brown-green upperparts, off-white underparts, and dull yellow flanks. Face has a brown eyeline and an off-white eyebrow. Bill, legs and feet are dark grey. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is more brown above and a bit more yellow below.
Range and Habitat
Chiffchaff: Occurs mostly in the summer, widespread in Britain and Ireland, less common in northern Scotland and upland areas. Found mainly in deciduous forests, thickets, and copses where there is thick undergrowth. Most British birds winter in the Mediterranean or West Africa. Breeds from Sweden to Spain and east to Bulgaria.
Breeding and Nesting
Chiffchaff: Four to six white eggs with black or purple markings are laid in a domed nest built close to or on the ground among grass or bushes. Eggs are incubated by the female for 12 to 14 days, chicks fledge after 12 to 15 days. They are dependent on their parents for another 10 to 18 days.
Foraging and Feeding
Chiffchaff: Feeds on insects such as moths, caterpillars, aphids and flies. Forages in bushes and tree canopies, often searching the undersides of leaves for prey. Also hovers to pick an insect from beneath a leaf and catches some insects in the air.
Readily Eats
Fruit, Peanuts
Vocalisation
Chiffchaff: Song is a repeated "zilp zalp," call is a whistled, rising "huiit."
Similar Species
Chiffchaff: Willow Warblers are slightly larger with longer wings, and the Chiffchaff tends to be more grey-brown, elongated and sleeker, with a less rounded crown. Call is the best way to tell them apart.