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Goldcrest

Male Goldcrest
Male: Olive-green with orange-red stripe on crown.
Female Goldcrest
Female: Like the male but with yellow stripe on crown.
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The Goldcrest is smaller than the Wren and is Europe's smallest bird.

The general appearance of a Goldcrest is that of a dull olive-green bird with pale whitish underparts and a conspicuous gold stripe on its crown. On closer inspection, there are two whitish wing bars and a dark mark on the wings. The black-bordered crest stripe is orange in the male and yellow in the female. The dark eye is easily seen against its whitish face. The thin bill is black and the legs are brown.

Juveniles are similar to the adults but lack the head markings.

The Firecrest (R. ignicapillus) is the same size as the Goldcrest, but more brightly coloured: starkly contrasting white supercilium above black eyestripe, yellow-orange stripe on crown which is bordered by black stripes. Upperparts are lime-green, and shoulders are bronze coloured. The Firecrest has grey ear coverts making the eye indistinct. Usually feeds at the ends of branches, fluttering almost hummingbird-like.

Goldcrest
Goldcrest
Firecrest
Firecrest
Firecrest
Firecrest
Firecrest Head
Firecrest Head

The main problem in identifying the Goldcrest is to first see it, as it is usually scurrying around tree trunks and branches, rarely keeping still. When there is a group of them, their very high pitched calls to one another can help find them.


Scientific Name Regulus regulus
Length 8-9 cm  (3-3½")
Wing Span 14-15 cm  (6")
Weight 5-7 g  (¼oz)
Breeding Pairs 560000
Present All Year
Status Green

Distribution map - when and where you are most likely to see the species.

Voice

Their song is a quiet, high pitched twittering: "tweedly tweedly tweedly twiddleedidee". The call is a quiet "zi" or "zi-zi-zi", which is easily confused with Treecreeper and some tits.

The call and song of the Firecrest is very similar to that of the Goldcrest - the song is louder and without a flourish at the end.

Goldcrest Song

© Jean Roché, www.sittelle.com
Goldcrest Call

© Jean Roché, www.sittelle.com
Firecrest Song

© Jean Roché, www.sittelle.com

Feeding

Their diet is mainly insects and spiders, which they usually find among the leaves and branches, and sometimes by hovering underneath the leaves. Their favoured trees are spruce, pine and fir.

They will visit gardens, but it is only in extremely cold winters that they will venture to bird tables for crumbs of bread and cheese.

Nesting

The nest is suspended near the end of a conifer branch and is made by the female. The nest is made from moss, lichens and spiders' webs, and lined with feathers. They will also nest among ivy.

The female Goldcrest lays and incubates eggs that are smooth, non-glossy and white or pale buff with brownish speckles. The eggs are about 14 mm by 11 mm. Both parents feed the young after they have hatched.

Breeding Starts Clutches Eggs Incubation (days) Fledge (days)
late April 2 7-13 14-17 16-21

Movements

The British resident birds are joined by immigrants from Scandinavia, Poland and Russia in the winter. Occasionally, huge numbers arrive on the east coast, such as in autumn 2005 when bushes, such as gorse and buckthorn, were "dripping with Goldcrests".

Conservation

The Goldcrest was a species of conservation concern for many years owing to its population being adversely affected by the cold winters in the early 1960s, but their numbers have recovered substantially and continue to do so.