I am Lilly, the tiny chiffchaff. I make a sweet sound today, for I am excited about what is to come. I swoop and glide then flutter up and tumble down again, excitement filling me. I must go to the Warm Place, for it is starting to get very cold here, a little colder every day. Mother has prepared me well for our long journey to the Warm Place. My mother, Sally, shall join me, as well as the friends and family we will meet along the way. I am ready for the long trek to Warm Place. I am small, light brown, with deep black eyes, and an orange beak. Mother says I am too excitable, too curious. She says that is what will make me a good leader of the flock.
My father was the leader of the flock last year, and my mother has told me everything about their journey to Warm Place. Sadly, my father died before I hatched. I hatched in Cold Place, our home, along with my sister Polly and my brother Delly. Here at home, the food is getting less cold. The delicious insects have changed, or moved away, so we too must look for food elsewhere. It is there, at the Warm Place, that we will get more food. I am ready to gather everyone, all the other chiffchaffs I know and have heard of. Mother has taught me the chiffchaff Gathering Tune, which I tweet so beautifully! Here I go! I am going to tell everyone of the journey, and I am going to warn them of the Big Cold that is on the way. We must go to Warm Place like we do every year.
I find my sister and my brother and they agree to join me. Delly has a friend, Freddy. Freddy is big and bold, the biggest chiffchaff any chiffchaff has ever seen. I swoop down to Freddy, to ask him to join, for he has a big voice and he can help me tweet the news on our journey. Freddy says he will help me since I have a beautiful voice like my father did, and I sing the Gathering Tune well. He will follow and protect me on the way to the Warm Place. Freddy has two sisters, Teddy and Frida. The journey will take us past their nest, so we will stop there first. The next place we will stop at is Freddy’s mother and father, Helga and Sammy. Soon enough we are on our way, the five of us, spreading the news that I, Lilly, will lead us to the Warm Place, for the food is scarce and the cold is getting colder. We reach Freddy’s family and they give us some berries to fuel us to the first eating spot, a few hours away.