The British naturalist Gilbert White was one of the first people to separate the similar-looking common chiffchaff, willow warbler and wood warbler by their songs, as detailed in 1789 in The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne,[2] but the common chiffchaff was first formally described as Sylvia collybita by French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1817 in his Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle.

[4] Described by German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826,[5] the genus Phylloscopus contains about 80 species of small insectivorous Old World woodland warblers which are either greenish or brown above and yellowish, white or buff below.

[36] The binomial name is of Greek origin; Phylloscopus comes from phúllon/φύλλον "leaf", and skopéō/σκοπέω "to look at" or "to see",[37] since this genus comprises species that spend much of their time feeding in trees, while collybita is a corruption of κολλυβιστής (kollubistḗs) "money changer", the song being likened to the jingling of coins.

For example, in Swedish the common chiffchaff is called gransångare, a compound of gran (i.e. "spruce") and sångare, meaning both "singer" and Old World warbler.

[38] The spring adult of the western nominate subspecies P. c. collybita has brown-washed dull green upperparts, off-white underparts becoming yellowish on the flanks, and a short whitish supercilium.

[39] As the plumage wears, it gets duller and browner, and the yellow on the flanks tends to be lost, but after the breeding season there is a prolonged complete moult before migration.

[42] The common chiffchaff also has rounded wings in flight, and a diagnostic tail movement consisting of a dip, then sidewards wag, that distinguishes it from other Phylloscopus warblers[43] and gives rise to the name "tailwagger" in India.

[28] The common chiffchaff breeds across Europe and Asia east to eastern Siberia and north to about 70°N, with isolated populations in northwest Africa, northern and western Turkey and northwestern Iran.

These trees are typically at least 5 metres (16 feet) high, with undergrowth that is an open, poor to medium mix of grasses, bracken, nettles or similar plants.

[46] There is an increasing tendency to winter in western Europe well north of the traditional areas, especially in coastal southern England and the mild urban microclimate of London.

[47] These overwintering common chiffchaffs include some visitors of the eastern subspecies abietinus and tristis, so they are certainly not all birds which have bred locally, although some undoubtedly are.

[49] His song, given from a favoured prominent vantage point, appears to be used to advertise an established territory and contact the female, rather than as a paternity guard strategy.

[56] Although pairs stay together during the breeding season and polygamy is uncommon, even if the male and female return to the same site in the following year there is no apparent recognition or fidelity.

[58] The chiffchaff has been estimated to require about one-third of its weight in insects daily, and it feeds almost continuously in the autumn to put on extra fat as fuel for the long migration flight.

Eggs, chicks and fledglings of this ground-nesting species are taken by stoats, weasels and crows such as the European magpie, and the adults are hunted by birds of prey, particularly the sparrowhawk.

[63][64] The main effect of humans on this species is indirect, through woodland clearance which affects the habitat, predation by cats, and collisions with windows, buildings and cars.

Only the first of these has the potential to seriously affect populations, but given the huge geographical spread of P. c. abietinus and P. c. tristis, and woodland conservation policies in the range of P. c. collybita, the chiffchaff's future seems assured.