UKBirds

Iberian Chiffchaff

Phylloscopus ibericus

The Iberian Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus ibericus) is a species of leaf warbler endemic to Portugal and Spain, west of a line stretching roughly from the western Pyrenees via the mountains of central Spain to the Mediterranean.

Previously the Iberian Chiffchaff was considered as a subspecies of the Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita). Now it is recognised as a separate species under the name Phylloscopus canariensis (Clement & Helbig, 1998; Sangster et al., 2002) for the following reasons (compared to the Common Chiffchaff) (Helbig et al., 1996):

Brighter in color

Greener rump

Yellower below

Vocalizations different

mtDNA sequence divergence