delhibird - The Northern India Bird Network

SPECIES GUIDE >> WARBLERS PART II

Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita

The Common Chiffchaff is indeed a common winter visitor to the Delhi area and can found quite easily in a range of different habitats, especially in low bushes and close to water. As well as searching for insects by gleaning foliage and sometimes hovering in trees and bushes, they will also feed on the ground, particularly in damp areas and can also be found foraging on floating vegetation like water hyacinth. They are active, obliging birds, often flicking the tail and wings. Where the feeding is good, you will sometimes find loose groups of Common Chiffchaffs assembling. This behaviour and choice of habitat means that it is usually possible to get very good views of this species.

The rather fine bill and legs are dark and there is a distinct blackish line through the eye and a pale supercilium, which extends a little way behind the eye. Little white crescents above and below the eye are often visible, as is the yellowish bend of the wing. Otherwise the plumage tone on the upperparts is greyish brown (showing a slightly greenish olive tinge on the edges of the flight feathers, tail and rump when the plumage is fresh in the spring, and with juvenile birds in the autumn). Usually the wings are plain, but occasionally a trace of a pale wing-bar may be apparent. The underparts are whitish with a slightly greyer or pale brownish tone on the sides. Chiffchaffs call very infrequently in North India, but you may hear a single, plaintive peu.

As mentioned last month, Booted Warblers can confused with Common Chifchaff, being rather plain, with brownish upperparts, a pale supercilium and brownish wash on the underparts. However, Booted Warblers will never show the slightly forked tail that chiffchaffs often show, its square-ended tail has pale sides, and will never show yellow on the bend of the wing. The bill is also longer, with pale on the base of the lower mandible and the legs are paler.

Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita
copyright Sumit Sen

Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita
copyright Nikhil Devasar

Mountain Chiffchaff Phylloscopus sindianus

Very similar to Common Chiffchaff, the Mountain Chiffchaff breeds in Western Himalayas (very common in Ladakh) and winters mainly in the Indus Valley. However, it has certainly been recorded wintering in the North Indian plains, including the Delhi area and without doubt is very under-recorded. The difficulty lies in its very similar appearance to Common Chiffchaff. It lacks any suggestion of greenish olive tone (but so will worn adult Common Chiffchaffs in winter) and the bend of the wing is whitish, rather than yellow. However, this can be difficult to see well enough, and you need good light, to be sure. It sometimes shows rather warmer brownish hue to sides of underparts in the spring. The best separation is on call: Mountain Chiffchaff’s call is a penetrating disyllabic swe-eet, quite different from Common Chiffchaff. The few records suggest that Mountain Chiffchaffs probably occur in similar habitat in North India as Common Chiffchaff.

Plain Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus neglectus

The rare Plain Leaf Warbler is like a very small Common Chiffchaff, but has a much shorter tail and looks rather large headed in comparison, with a very small bill. In fresh plumage, a slightly buff panel may be visible on the closed wing, but otherwise the plumage is reminiscent of the chiffchaffs, especially Mountain. Luckily the call is quite distinctive, a rather hard-toned tschak-tschak. This is a north-western species, mainly breeding in Baluchistan with some wintering records in North India, where it is very poorly known.

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