Mountain Chiffchaff

Phylloscopus sindianus Brooks, WE, 1880

≈10 cmLength7.5 gWeight

This chiffchaff lives in alpine areas and descends to lower elevations in winter.

Busiest months: May · Most records: Türkiye, Georgia, Kuwait

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Nominate subspecies has a finer, darker bill than the Siberian form
Nominate subspecies has browner upperparts than the Siberian form
Nominate subspecies has buff flanks

Voice

Nominate subspecies has a faint call like “psew”; song is almost identical to that of Common Chiffchaff.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: May · Most records: Türkiye, Georgia, Kuwait

Mountain Chiffchaff has been recorded at 25 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 11 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Aras Kuş Halkalama İstasyonuTürkiye1,505 records
Mt. Kuro slopesGeorgia412 records
Al Jahra Reserve (Restricted access)Kuwait62 records

More places

Norashen ReserveArmenia30 records
Sakhalvasho Raptor WatchpointGeorgia29 records
Shirvan NPAzerbaijan16 records
Kumisi ReservoirGeorgia15 records
Ponichala ReserveGeorgia12 records
Qanbarabad ReservoirIran11 records
Abraq Al-HabariKuwait10 records

Countries and regions with the most records

Türkiye Georgia Kuwait Armenia Azerbaijan Iran Nepal Kyrgyzstan

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The mountain chiffchaff or eastern chiffchaff (Phylloscopus sindianus) is a species of leaf warbler found in the Caucasus (P. s. lorenzii) and Tian Shan (P. s. sindianus). It is an altitudinal migrant, moving to lower levels in winter. The nominate subspecies is similar to the Siberian chiffchaff, but with a finer darker bill, browner upperparts and buff flanks; its song is almost identical to the common chiffchaff, but the call is a weak psew.

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