Willow Warbler

How to identify

Field marks

1. Green-rufous upperparts and grayish-white to yellow underparts
2. Wings plain green-rufous, without wing patches
3. Legs and feet pale pinkish-yellow, compared with dark brown to black in Common Chiffchaff
4. Bill longer and paler than in Common Chiffchaff

Male, female and young

Juveniles have a yellower belly than adults.

Voice

The song consists of simple, repeated descending whistles; the contact call is a two-syllable “hoo-eet”.

Similar species

Common Chiffchaff

When the birds are silent, compare the legs and feet and the bill: Willow Warbler has pale pinkish-yellow legs and feet and a longer, paler bill, while Common Chiffchaff has dark brown to black legs and feet.

Where and when it's recorded

Willow Warbler has been recorded at 1,869 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 126 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Jerusalem Bird ObservatoryIsrael1,953 records
2. International Birding and Research Center Eilat (IBRCE)Israel1,845 records
3. Elton ReservoirUnited Kingdom1,629 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United KingdomSpainPortugalIsraelSwedenGermanyPolandFinland

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 willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strongly migratory, with almost all of the population wintering in sub-Saharan Africa.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions