Common Chiffchaff
Phylloscopus collybita
Gransangeren er en mindre spurvefugl, der yngler i de nordlige og tempererede dele af Europa og Asien. Arten overvintrer i det vestlige og sydlige Europa, det sydlige Asien og det nordlige Afrika.
Small, plain with no wingbars, brown-washed olive-green above and off-white below. The two best marks are the dark legs and the short whitish ; the primary projection is short.
Can be confused with
- Willow Warbler — Willow Warbler has pale legs, a longer primary projection and a sleeker, brighter green look; its call is a more clearly disyllabic "hooeet" against the Chiffchaff’s shorter "hweet", and the song is a descending, wistful phrase rather than "chiff-chaff".
Plumage and variation
Summer and winter: Spring birds are brown-washed dull green above with a yellowish wash on the flanks; the plumage grows duller and browner through the season as the feathers wear.
Juvenile: Juvenile is browner above with yellow-white underparts, but moults within ten weeks to brighter, greener upperparts.
Voice
The song is a repeated, cheerful "chiff-chaff" — a characteristic alternation between two notes. The call is a "hweet", less disyllabic than the Willow Warbler’s "hooeet".
Behaviour
Moves restlessly through the foliage, briefly hovering to take insects. Has a diagnostic tail movement: a dip followed by a sideways wag. The male defends a core territory some 20 m across.
When and where
Arrives in March as one of the earliest singers, and a few overwinter. It colonised Denmark in the 1800s and has grown steadily commoner — the population sextupled between 1976 and 2005 — and now breeds in many forest types nationwide.
Facts
Wingspan
18 cm
Conservation status
ikke truet
Relatives
Family
leaf warblers
Phylloscopidae
Order
passerines
Passeriformes
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