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Goldcrest

Goldcrest

Regulus regulus

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

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The Goldcrest is Europe's smallest bird, a tiny, olive-green kinglet with pale underparts and a golden crown stripe bordered with black – orange-centred in males. It is widespread across the Palearctic, including Macaronesia and Iceland, and many northern and eastern birds move south and west in winter. It lives in coniferous and mixed woodland and gardens with conifers.

Did you know?

  • It is the smallest bird in Europe.
  • Its Latin name Regulus means “little king”, after its golden crown.

Voice

Song
Call
Flight call

About the species

Identification

Very small, greenish-grey above and paler below, with two white wing bars. A black-bordered stripe runs along the crown, orange in males and yellow in females. Young birds have a plainer crown without the yellow stripe. The face is plain, without the Firecrest's white supercilium. The voice is a thin, very high-pitched “see-see-see”.

Family

Sylviidae

Size

Tiny (goldcrest)

Colours

green, yellow, white, grey, black

About the habitat

Spruce, fir and other coniferous forest, as well as mixed woodland, plantations, parks and gardens with conifers.

Diet

Mainly tiny insects and spiders, including aphids, springtails and caterpillars, picked from needles and twigs; occasionally seeds in winter.

Behaviour

Restless and active, it creeps and hovers at the tips of conifer branches, gleaning prey from needles. It gives very high, thin calls and song, which some people cannot hear. Males raise their crest in display. It weaves a compact, three-layered hanging nest beneath a conifer branch, bound with spider silk, and often raises a second brood. In winter it often joins mixed flocks with tits.

Sources

Photo: Francis C. Franklin, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goldcrest 1.jpg

Sound: GESHORS Yann, XC513342, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/513342

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC707372, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/707372

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC707374, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/707374

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

See also