Обыкновенная пеночка (Phylloscopus collybita)

Small migratory passerine bird found in Europe, Asia and north Africa

The common chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita), or simply the chiffchaff, is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds in open woodlands throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic. It is a migratory passerine which winters in southern and western Europe, southern Asia and north Africa. Greenish brown above and off white below, it is named onomatopoeically for its simple chiff chaff song. It has a number of subspecies, some of which are now treated as full species. The female builds a domed nest on or near the ground, and assumes most of the responsibility for brooding and feeding the chicks, whilst the male has little involvement in nesting, but defends his territory against rivals, and attacks potential predators. A small insectivorous bird, it is subject to predation by mammals, such as cats and mustelids, and birds, particularly hawks of the genus Accipiter. Its large range and population mean that its status is secure, although one subspecies is probably extinct.

The British naturalist Gilbert White was one of the first people to separate the similar looking common chiffchaff, willow warbler and wood warbler by their songs, as detailed in 1789 in The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, but the common chiffchaff was first formally described as Sylvia collybita by French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1817 in his Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle. The type locality is the French region of Normandy. Described by German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826, the genus Phylloscopus contains about 80 species of small insectivorous Old World woodland warblers which are either greenish or brown above and yellowish, white or buff below. The genus was formerly part of the Old World warbler family Sylvidae, but has now been split off as a separate family Phylloscopidae. The chiffchaff's closest relatives, other than former subspecies, are a group of leaf warblers which similarly lack crown stripes, a yellow rump or obvious wing bars; they include the willow, Bonelli's, wood and plain leaf warblers. The common chiffchaff has three still commonly accepted subspecies, together with some from the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands, and the Caucasus which are now more often treated as full species.

P. c. collybita, the nominate form, breeds in Europe east to Poland and Bulgaria, and is described below. It mainly winters in the south of its breeding range around the Mediterranean and in North Africa. It has been expanding its range northwards into Scandinavia since 1970 and close to the southern edge of the range of P. c. abietinus. P. c. abietinus occurs in Scandinavia and northern Russia, and winters from southeastern Europe and northeastern Africa east to Iraq and western Iran. It is intermediate in appearance between P. c. tristis and P. c. collybita, being grey washed olive green above with a pale yellow supercilium, and underparts whiter than in P. c. collybita, but it has very similar vocalisations to the nominate subspecies. further research is needed to clarify the affinities of this form. P. (c.) tristis, the Siberian chiffchaff, breeds in Siberia east of the Pechora River and winters in the lower Himalayas. It is a dull subspecies, grey or brownish above and whitish below, with little yellow in the plumage, and the buff white supercilium is often longer than in the western subspecies. It has a higher pitched suitsistsuisit song and a short high pitched cheet call. It is sometimes considered to be a full species due to its distinctive plumage and vocalisations, being similar to P. s. sindianus in these respects. Nominate P. c. collybita and P. c. tristis do not recognize each other's songs. Pending resolution of the status of P. (c.) fulvescens, which is found where the ranges of P. c. abietinus and P. c. tristis connect and may or may not This species is found in Portugal and Spain, west of a line stretching roughly from the western Pyrenees via the mountains of central Spain to the Mediterranean; the Iberian and common chiffchaffs co occur in a narrow band along this line. Apart from the northernmost section, the precise course of the contact zone is not well documented. A long distance migrant, this species winters in western Africa. It differs from P. c. collybita in vocalisations, external morphology, and mtDNA sequences. There is hybridization in the contact zone, and hybrids apparently show much decreased fitness; Regarding the latter aspect, the Iberian chiffchaff apparently is the oldest lineage of chiffchaffs and quite distinct from the common chiffchaff. P. sindianus, the mountain chiffchaff, is found in the Caucasus (P. s. lorenzii) and Himalayas (P. s. sindianus), and is an altitudinal migrant, moving to lower levels in winter. The nominate subspecies is similar to P. c. tristis, but with a finer darker bill, browner upperparts and buff flanks; its song is almost identical to P. collybita, but the call is a weak P. s. lorenzii is warmer and darker brown than the nominate race; external morphology, and mtDNA sequences. There are similar names in some other European languages, such as the Dutch tjiftjaf, the German Zilpzalp, Welsh siff saff and Finnish tiltaltti. The binomial name is of Greek origin; Phylloscopus comes from /φύλλον "leaf", and /σκοπέω "to look at" or "to see", since this genus comprises species that spend much of their time feeding in trees, while collybita is a corruption of κολλυβιστής (kollubistḗs) "money changer", the song being likened to the jingling of coins. The song differs from that of the Iberian chiffchaff, which has a shorter However, mixed singers occur in the hybridisation zone and elsewhere, and can be difficult to allocate to species. Beyond the core territory, there is a larger feeding range which is variable in size, but typically ten or more times the area of the breeding territory. It is believed that the female has a larger feeding range than the male. After breeding has finished, this species abandons its territory, and may join small flocks including other warblers prior to migration. but it recognises and rejects non mimetic eggs and is therefore only rarely successfully brood parasitised. Like other passerine birds, the common chiffchaff can also acquire intestinal nematode parasites and external ticks. The main effect of humans on this species is indirect, through woodland clearance which affects the habitat, predation by cats, and collisions with windows, buildings and cars. Only the first of these has the potential to seriously affect populations, but given the huge geographical spread of P. c. abietinus and P. c. tristis, and woodland conservation policies in the range of P. c. collybita, the chiffchaff's future seems assured.

The common chiffchaff has an enormous range, with an estimated global extent of 10 million square kilometres (3.8 million square miles) and a population of 60–120 million individuals in Europe alone. Although global population trends have not been quantified, the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (that is, declining more than 30 percent in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as "least concern". The range of at least P. c. collybita seems to be expanding, with northward advances in Scotland, Norway and Sweden and a large population increase in Denmark.