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Common Firecrest

Common Firecrest

Regulus ignicapilla

Identify the Common Firecrest by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Common Firecrest is a tiny kinglet of temperate Europe and north-west Africa, recognised by its bold face pattern, white supercilium, two white wing bars and a gleaming crown stripe – orange in males, yellow in females. It lives in coniferous and broadleaf woods and gardens, and many central European birds move south and west in winter. Its range has been expanding northwards.

Did you know?

  • It may be the original “king of the birds” of European folklore.
  • It is one of Europe's smallest birds, weighing about as much as a coin.

Voice

Song
Call

About the species

Identification

A tiny bird, the size of a Goldcrest, separated by its clear white supercilium, black eye stripe and a bronze-coloured patch on the side of the neck. The male's crown stripe is bright orange, the female's yellow; young birds lack the bright head pattern. It is greener above and whiter below than Goldcrest.

Family

Sylviidae

Size

Tiny (goldcrest)

Colours

green, yellow, orange, white, black

About the habitat

Coniferous and mixed woodland, especially spruce and fir, and broadleaf woods with holly and ivy, as well as parks and gardens with evergreen cover.

Diet

Mainly small insects and other arthropods – moth eggs and larvae, aphids and spiders – gleaned from foliage and twigs, often while hovering.

Behaviour

Restless and agile, it gleans and hovers among leaves and needles and often joins mixed flocks with tits in winter. Males display by flaring the crown. It builds a compact, three-layered nest bound with spider silk hanging from a branch; the female incubates and both parents feed the young. Its song is a rapid series of thin notes, slightly lower and accelerating compared with a Goldcrest's.

Sources

Photo: Alexis Lours, CC BY 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Common firecrest Franconville 03.jpg

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC730603, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/730603

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC707375, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/707375

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_firecrest

See also