Subject: Common or Siberian Chiffchaff? Please ID .. [Print This Page] Author: wilsondring Time: 5/01/2014 17:38 Subject: Common or Siberian Chiffchaff? Please ID ..
Long Valley 05/01/2014
It has been suggested by someone that the Siberian is the most easterly of the chiffchaffs and therefore most likely to occur in Hong Kong .. Also, the nominal "common chiffchaff" has much more olive/greenish hue in the upperparts.
The Chiffchaffs that occasionally turn up in Hong Kong (this is the 7th record, I think) are Siberian Chiffchaffs Phylloscopus collybita tristis. At the moment, the IOC lists tristis as a subspecies of Common Chiffchaff and this is followed in the Hong Kong Bird Reports.
However, it is possible that some time in the future, tristis will gain specific status. Modern field guides to Asian birds e.g Brazil (2009) and Rasmussen (2005) tend to treat tristis as a separate species.
David Author: wilsondring Time: 5/01/2014 20:51
Appreciate the clarification, thanks David!
Welcome to HKBWS Forum 香港觀鳥會討論區 (http://hkbws.org.hk/BBS/)