Animalia Life

Phylloscopus collybita
SUBFAMILY
Sylviinae
TAXONOMY
Phylloscopus collybita Vieillot, 1817.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Common, Eurasian chiffchaff; French: Pouillot vйloce; German: Zilpzalp; Spanish: Mosquitero Comъn.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
3.9–4.3 in (10–11 cm); 0.2–0.4 oz (6–12 g). Small warbler with short, fine bill, olive-green upperparts, white underparts, brownish flanks, a dark line through the eye, surmounted by a light line.
DISTRIBUTION
Breeds from Iberia, British Isles and Scandinavia to Caspian Sea, northern Mongolia, eastern Siberia. Winters in Western Europe, Mediterranean, northwest Africa, Middle East, India and sub-Saharan Africa.
HABITAT
Open woodland with tall undergrowth, parks, and scrub, typically in lowlands.
BEHAVIOR
Solitary or in pairs during breeding season. In small groups or mixed flocks in migration and winter. Territorial. Song highly variable; in nominate group it is series of two-note alternating phrases.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Forages from ground to canopy for insects, gleaning from foliage.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Monogamous, sometimes facultatively polygynous. Nest is built by the female; dome of dry gr–ss and other plant materials with a side entrance, on or near the ground in thick vegetation. Four to seven eggs, incubated 13–15 days by female; nestlings cared by female; fledge after 14–16 days. Brood independent after 10–19 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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