A recent bird survey conducted by the Yancheng Wetland and Natural World Heritage Conservation & Management Center has recorded a new avian visitor to the city.
At the Dafeng Seawall, surveyors observed three small leaf warblers flitting in pagoda tree canopies. Distinct from regularly recorded warbler species, the birds were preliminarily identified as Common Chiffchaffs.
On March 30, the identification was formally confirmed by Lei Jinyu, Secretary-General of the China Bird Watching Network, Editor-in-Chief of the China Bird List and China Bird Watching Annual Report.
“Unlike similar warblers, the Common Chiffchaff has an all-black bill and legs,” Lei confirmed. The record adds another species to Yancheng’s bird list, further demonstrating the area’s outstanding biodiversity.
About the Common Chiffchaff
Scientific name: Phylloscopus collybita
A small passerine (approximately 11 cm long) of the family Phylloscopidae, it is olive-brown above with a bold black eye-stripe and pale buffish-yellow supercilium, lacking a crown stripe. Underparts are whitish with a buff wash. The tristis subspecies is noticeably greyer and paler.
Widespread across Eurasia, the tristis subspecies occurs uncommonly in the Altai and Tianshan mountains of northwestern Xinjiang. It is a rare vagrant and occasional winter visitor in eastern China.
This latest discovery follows a series of new bird records in Yancheng in recent years. It highlights the effectiveness of local ecological conservation efforts, supplies new data for studies on bird distribution and migration, and strengthens Yancheng’s reputation as a globally important ecological destination.
Photographed by Xu Xing and Cheng Wei
Yancheng Bird Watching Association