"Eastern" collybita

[Odonate]

Just back from a birding conference in Northern Italy where I got slightly confused by the Chiffchaffs. All of the birds I heard (30 - 40 individuals) were making a disyllabic call with the first note rising in pitch and the second falling ie. completely the opposite from the normal huuit/tuuit calls of western collybita. I was alerted to the following web article:

Copete, J.L- & Armada, R.(2004) Unusual calls of Chiffchaffs Phylloscopus collybita in NE Spain in autumn-winter: an alert to Spanish observers. Rare Birds in Spain. Retrieved from http://www.rarebirdspain.net/arbsi026.htm

The birds were calling in a way very similar to that described in the article as the Tsi-lip call. Having lived in that part of Italy for 5 years I have never heard (or noticed?) that type of call and have never heard it elsewhere in Europe. The authors suggest that these birds are Eastern collybita as they have been recorded breeding in Finland/Estonia in some years. Certainly, plumage did not suggest anything other than normal collybita collybita although some observers thought that perhaps the supercillium was quite well defined/marked.

I would be interested to hear from other European observers as to whether they are hearing similar birds at the moment or if they are restricted to Northern Italy.

Cheers

[Ross Ahmed]

In this country I've heard the typical collybita call, the high-pitched monosyllabic call apparently uttered mainly by juvs, and the high-pitched call associated with Sibe Chiffs.

Don't think any of these match the descriptions of your birds?

[Giroud Marc]

In early november, on a birding trip on Oléron island (France), west coast. Many chiffchaff are calling as you explain, with a distinct disyllabic call. By plumage caracters, the birds appeared to be very similar than a normal collybita.

Some abietinus type were also noted : birds with a grey tones in their plumage, whitish underparts, and call like a collybita, but clearly different than the two sib chiff noted in the same period.

So, for the disyllabic call, I think it's to earlier for telling where did they come...

[jamesg]

This is an interesting question that I'm sure has troubled a lot of birders over the years.

For me, there's no doubt that you can find birds making this "tssi-iip" in western populations of Common Chiffchaff. I don't think it can be indicative of eastern populations - most of the "tssi-iip" calling birds I've seen have looked exactly like our local breeders. Autumn abietinus, on the other hand, usually give either standard "hueet" calls or more monosyllabic calls, similar to the supposedly 'diagnostic' tristis call. Of course, they may also give the "tsssi-iip" call as well...

The really weird thing is that the proportion of chiffchaffs giving this "tssi-iip" call really does seem to vary from year to year. Most years you hardly hear any, and then sometimes there are loads. This year has been a particularly good one in the UK - I spent half my autumn chasing up birds giving this call in the hope that they would turn out to be some rarer phyllosc!

The Rare Birds in Spain article describes how this call seemed to 'appear' in Europe out of nowhere in the late 90's. I've heard the same story in the UK - in fact i remember Bill Oddie wrote an article in Birdwatch about it.

So this call appears to crop up in all western populations from time to time. Very strange - can anyone put forward an explanation?

Edit:- I've attached a recording of a bird giving this call (a very bright obvious nominate bird) from 1st Sept this year in Norfolk.

[coeligena]

Originally Posted by Odonate

I would be interested to hear from other European observers as to whether they are hearing similar birds at the moment or if they are restricted to Northern Italy.

Cheers

Ciao Odonate,

For what it's worth, they seem to be all over Italy, not just in the north. Over the last month I've been in extreme southern Italy (Pelagie islands, closer to Tunisia than to Italy), the Naples area in the south, and northern Italy (Lombardy) and they are everywhere, although proportionately they are maybe commoner in northern Italy (where they seem to account for the majority of Chiffchaffs). Lots of other Italian birders are reporting them as well.

Ottavio

[Odonate]

I really have no idea as to where they come from and was more interested in the whole phenomenon. I am not sure that we can completely discount a near eastern (from Britain) provenance. I have certainly not noticed them in South Western Britain where I now do most of my birding and the apparent absence of them in Spain (despite the article) might suggest that they are scarcer further west although Marcs records from Western France might discount all of that.

That there should be "influx" years might also suggest some geographical difference (not sure if anyone has any data suggesting any coincidences with movements of other species or ringing recovery peaks from certain areas associated with the arrival of these birds?).

Most of the other possibilities seem a little far fetched.

[Ross Ahmed]

I've had a quick listen to recording posted by jamesg and don't think I've heard any birds give that call up here in NE England, and such birds don't seem to occur in SW England. So what are the chances of them being primarilx a East Anglian thing (as in Caspian Gull?

[Harry Hussey]

Originally Posted by jamesg

So this call appears to crop up in all western populations from time to time. Very strange - can anyone put forward an explanation?

Hi James,
As per the Sound Approach, this call is attributable to young birds, and is a sort of 'intermediate' step between birds giving the more tristis-like calls of juveniles and arriving at the crystallised 'adult-type' call.
The explanation that they give for the greater incidence of this call in some years when compared to others is that, in some years, birds may fledge earlier, or there may be a lower number of second broods, so that, when the 1st cal birds would start to turn up at migration spots, their call development may be sufficiently advanced for the calls not to differ greatly from those of adults. In other years, either more second broods or (more likely after the wet summer we've had) later fledging may lead to increased numbers of birds still at an earlier stage in call development...
Regards,
Harry

[Ross Ahmed]

Attached is a Chiffchaff in Cornwall in Aug which interspersed it's high-pitched call with a note more like the typical adult collybitta call (sounding very like Chaffinch).

Perhaps this bird fits into birds in the 'intermediate' stage in the call development - still hanging onto the juvenile high-pitched call, but beggining to work in a more adult like call?

[Odonate]

Originally Posted by Harry Hussey

The explanation that they give for the greater incidence of this call in some years when compared to others is that, in some years, birds may fledge earlier, or there may be a lower number of second broods, so that, when the 1st cal birds would start to turn up at migration spots, their call development may be sufficiently advanced for the calls not to differ greatly from those of adults. In other years, either more second broods or (more likely after the wet summer we've had) later fledging may lead to increased numbers of birds still at an earlier stage in call development...

The juvenile theory for these calls does not convince me particularly as all of the birds I heard were calling this way (although I was unable to age any in the field). That these calls are being heard now in late November (realistically 3-4 months after second broods) is slightly different from hearing them in August/September. Why do we not hear these calls commonly in July for instance from first brood birds? Also, these calls have been recorded from breeding birds in spring and worn adults in autumn.

It may be interesting to note that these Italian birds responded very strongly to Chiffchaff song playback with up to 8 birds appearing almost instantly.