The Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) is a common and widespread leaf-warbler which breeds in open woodlands throughout northern and temperate Europe and Asia. A small insectivorous bird. The Chiffchaff is a small, dumpy, 10–12 centimetres (4 in) long leaf warbler.Greenish-brown above and off-white below, it is named onomatopoeically for its simple chiff-chaff song. The best way of distinguishing the Chiffchaff from the Willow Warbler is by their song. The Chiffchaff's song sounds like its name "chiff chaff" or "zilp zalp", while the Willow Warbler's song is a melodic rippling phrase that rises quickly before slowly dying away. The Chiff Chaff's and Willow Warbler's calls are almost identical, "hweet" or "hooeet".
In the autumn, both species rarely sing so the call is often the easiest way of finding the warbler.
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Chiff Chaff |
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| Wood Wabler |
The small bird chiff chaff , the willow warbler and wood warbler have distinctly different songs. however, since they looked some what similar, it was thought that they wre all the same species.It was an English naturalist, Gilbert White , who first noticed that they were actually three different species. The differences in their songs acted like an isolating mechanism when the female wanted to atrract male during mating and this ensured that the species remained distinct.