# Common chiffchaff (*Phylloscopus collybita*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-chiffchaff  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The common chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) is a bird in the family Phylloscopidae, order Passeriformes, grouped with songbirds and other perching birds. It is a tiny, migratory, perching bird of forest habitat, with an adult body mass of 8.3 g and a wingspan of 18 cm. It is an invertivore, placing it at the carnivore trophic level, and its geographic range covers 7,565,000 km². Its eggs are incubated for 14 days, it lays 5.5 eggs per clutch and 1.5 clutches per year, and it is listed as Least Concern, not an IUCN threatened category.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 7.1 g – 8.3 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Wingspan | 18 cm |
| Lifespan | 7.8 years |
| Diet | Invertivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 8 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | forest |
| Egg incubation | 14 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 5.5 |
| Age at maturity | 12 months |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1.5 |
| Lifestyle | Perching |
| Migration | Migratory |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Passeriformes
- family: Phylloscopidae
- genus: Phylloscopus
- species: *Phylloscopus collybita* (Vieillot, 1817)

Synonyms: *Ficedula fulvescens*, *Ficedula rufa*, *Motacilla lotharingica*, *Motacilla rufa*, *Phyllopneuste hippolais*, *Phyllopneuste pinetorum*, *Phyllopneuste rufa*, *Phyllopneuste solitaria*, *Phyllopneuste sylvestris*, *Phyllopseuste rufa*, *Phylloscopus collybita rufus*, *Phylloscopus lotharingicus*, *Phylloscopus rufus*, *Phylloscopus tristis altaiana*, *Regulus hippolais*, *Sylvia collybita*, *Sylvia hippolais*, *Sylvia loquax*, *Sylvia rufa*, *Sylvia rufa*, *Sylvia sylvestris*, *Sylvicola rufa*, *Trochilus minor*, *Trochilus rufa*

## Common questions

### What kind of animal is the common chiffchaff?

The common chiffchaff is a bird in the family Phylloscopidae and order Passeriformes, grouped with songbirds and other perching birds.

### How heavy is the common chiffchaff?

The common chiffchaff has an adult body mass of 8.3 g, which places it in the tiny size class (under 10 g). Its wingspan is 18 cm.

### What does the common chiffchaff eat?

The common chiffchaff is an invertivore, which places it at the carnivore trophic level.

### Is the common chiffchaff endangered?

No. The common chiffchaff is listed as Least Concern (LC) in the global IUCN assessment, which is not an IUCN threatened category.

### How long does the common chiffchaff live?

The common chiffchaff has a lifespan of 7.8 years, with the highest value reported by our sources being 8 years.

### How many eggs does the common chiffchaff lay?

The common chiffchaff lays 5.5 eggs per clutch and 1.5 clutches per year, and the eggs are incubated for 14 days.

### When does the common chiffchaff reach sexual maturity?

The common chiffchaff reaches sexual maturity at 364.6 days, with reported values from 364.2 to 365 days (1 year).

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), CC BY 4.0, v7. Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org), per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed), 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Cite as: Common chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-chiffchaff