Chiffchaff

Phylloscopus collybita

Other Names

  Common Chiffchaff   Pouillot véloce   Zilpzalp   Mosquitero Común   Gransångare   Tjiftjaf   Luì piccolo

World: Found across much of Eurasia (including Scandinavia). Winters from the Mediterranean region E to India and S to N and East Africa.

Kenya: Uncommon migrant from December through March, particularly in highland forest and bamboo.

This bird can be difficult to see as it forages high in the canopy or lower in dense thickets. It is almost exclusively insectivorous although it will eat fruit in late automn/early winter and will occasionally drink nectar. During the winter it is mostly a solitary bird. It is a somewhat restless bird, constantly on the move, flicking its wings and pumping its tail up and down as well as twitching it from side to side.

It is very dificult to distinguish the Chiffchaff from the more common Willow Warbler unless you hear the call. The Chiffchaff has a somewhat monosyllabic call, it also has a less well defined supercilliary stripe.