This tiny greenish bird, hardly the size of a walnut, now has a rather long name in Maltese: Vjolin tax-Xitwa.  Previous authors called it Bufula, the generic name for warblers, Bufulatax-Xitwa (Winter Warbler), Vjolin (Violin), or Bufula Hadra(Green warbler). Country folk also call them Ta’ Pompeii, Zunzajna or Ghaksa.

Chiffchaffs are one of the species of leaf warblers that migrates to the Maltese Islands in autumn and many of them spend winter with us. They can be seen in trees, bushes and shrubs and may be frequently seen even in back gardens and yards. They are usually more abundant wherever water is found, because in such habitats more insects abound.

Chiffchaffs are very active birds and attract one’s attention because they are always on the move, foraging for food. They can even be seen chasing tiny insects in the air.

In some years, Chiffchaffs can be very common. This winter does not appear to be an especially good for these birds, because they can still be met with, there are no big numbers of them about. In good years, some areas in places such as Chadwick Lakes would be literally teeming with these birds, darting from twig to twig, and pecking away at insects, or picking them out of the surface of the water.

Chiffchaffs are usually seen from early October to early April. Some can also be seen in May and individual birds were also recorded in June and July. In spite of the fact that these tiny birds undertake very long journeys to migrate, Chiffchaffs may frequent the same localities in both spring and autumn. Birds seen in Malta travel very far up north to Sweden, Denmark as well as east to Kiev, a distance of around 3,500 kilometres.

Chiffchaffs are found across Europe, in parts of northern Africa, Asia Minor, Arabia as well as east to India. It winters in several the Mediterranean countries and North Africa but some even cross the Sahara. Recent studies have established there are four separate races of Chiffchaff, three of which occur in our Islands. There is also a separate species, the Iberian Chiffchaff, which also occurs in Malta.

In spite of their tiny size and the long journeys they undertake, Chiffchaffs can live for about 8 years in the wild.