• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Gift Vouchers
    • Binoculars and Scopes
    • View Cart
    • Your Account
      • edit-account
      • edit-address
      • lost-password
  • Wildlife Tours
    • Discover Wildlife Weekends
    • Guided Wildlife and Birding Walks
    • Custom Wildlife and Birding Tours
  • Schools
  • Books
  • News
    • Irish Wildlife News
    • International Wildlife News
    • Wildlife Events
    • Wildlife Press Releases
  • Articles
    • Blog
      • Birding
      • Wildlife Photography
      • Whales and Dolphins
      • Mammals
      • Wildlife Podcasts
        • The Calendar Road
      • Biodiversity
      • Wildlife Calendar
    • Species Profiles
      • Amphibians
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Fungi
      • Invertebrates
      • Mammals
      • Plants
      • Reptiles
    • Feature Articles
      • Choosing Binoculars
      • Birding for Beginners
      • How to watch whales and dolphins
      • How to watch Basking Sharks
      • Wildlife travel
    • Wildlife Portfolio
    • Wild Wide Web
    • Reviews
      • Book Reviews
      • Gear Reviews
        • Wildlife Optics
          • Binocular Reviews
          • Spotting Scope Reviews
        • Wildlife Clothing
        • Wildlife Accessories
  • Work with us
    • Write for us
    • Advertise with us
    • Sponsorship Opportunities
    • Wildlife Marketing Services
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Disclosure Statement
    • Cookie policy (EU)
  • Contact

Ireland's Wildlife

Irish wildlife, nature and biodiversity

You are here: Home / Species Profiles / Birds / Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)

Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)

November 18, 2013 by Calvin Jones 1 Comment

Goldcrest, Ireland's smallest birdThe diminutive goldcrest is not only Ireland’s smallest bird, but also Europe’s – a title it shares with its close relative the firecrest. It is widespread and found throughout the country, and often visits gardens, especially during winter months. Despite it’s restless, flitting behaviour and distinctive markings this bird’s tiny size makes it easy to overlook.

Reaching just 9cm (3.5 inches) long, and with a wingspan of only 13.5-15.5 cm (5-6 inches) the goldcrest really is tiny. At just 4.5-7 grams (0.15-0.25 oz) an adult goldcrest weighs only about half as much as a blue tit.

Goldcrests are attractive little birds, with dull olive green plumage above, buff-white below and black and white markings on their olive-green wings. Their most distinctive feature, however, is the flaming yellow (female) or yellow and orange (male) black-bordered strip on the crown that gives the species its name. Pale markings around the eyes give the bird an open-faced, almost staring expression when viewed up close.

Often the easiest way to detect the presence of goldcrests is by their high-pitched call – a thin, insistent “tsee, tsee, tsee”, although this is so high-pitched that it can be beyond the range of some people’s hearing. They are restless little birds, and their incessant flitting as they forage high in the foliage can also betray their presence.

Predominantly birds of conifer woodland, goldcrests favour stands of spruce and silver fir, and less so larch and Scots pine. However they can be found in trees or large shrubs of any kind as long as there are conifer trees in the vicinity. In winter, when food is scarce, they are more likely to be seen in parks, gardens and areas of broadleaf woodland as they broaden their foraging efforts.

These tiny birds are acrobatic, tit-like feeders, often hanging upside down as they systematically inspect the underside of leaves and pine needles for insects, insect larvae and spiders.

In early spring the males display to females, raising and fanning their impressive flame and gold crests while drooping their wings and puffing out their body plumage. It’s an impressive show for so small a bird.

Once paired the birds build a deep hammock-like nest out of moss and spiders webs, lined with feathers and usually suspended near the tips of conifer branches. The elaborate structure can take up to a fortnight to build. The female lays 7-10 tiny white eggs with brown speckles in the nest from April to May and incubation takes 14 to 17 days. Young fledge two to three weeks after hatching and goldcrests typically rear two broods of young in a season. In some woodlands goldcrests may be so common that they occupy vertically tiered territories above each other in the conifer canopy.

Goldcrests are resident in Ireland all year round, and there are an estimated 300,000 breeding pairs here, with a further 600,000 in Britain. These resident birds’ numbers are swelled in autumn and winter by the arrival of migrant birds from northern Europe.

Although common and widespread, goldcrest populations have declined recently and it is listed as an “amber” species of moderate conservations concern. These tiny birds are hit particularly hard by harsh winters, which can cause numbers to plummet alarmingly. However, populations do tend to bounce back relatively quickly.

Photo Credit: Attribution Some rights reserved by Frank.Vassen

Filed Under: Birds Tagged With: garden birds, goldcrest

About Calvin Jones

Calvin Jones is a freelance writer, author, birder and lifelong wildlife enthusiast. He is founder and editor of IrelandsWildlife.com and founder and wildlife guide of Ireland's Wildlife Tours offering wildlife and birding holidays on Ireland's south coast.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Deirdre McDonagh says

    January 17, 2021 at 17:24

    My 14yr old rescued a Goldcrest from our cat and has a beautiful collection of photos and videos of releasing the friendly tiny bird. Very resilient, he survived being trapped by two cats, each in turn with him in their mouth.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Search the site

  • Microthemer - Visual editor for your WordPress site

Subscribe to the mailing list








Supporting Ireland’s Wildlife

  • Microthemer - Visual editor for your WordPress site

*****

Footer

Experience Ireland’s Wildlife for yourself

Breaching humpback whale Ireland

Join us on a wildlife adventure on Ireland’s Wild South Coast… and find out first hand why we call this Europe’s Undiscovered Wildlife Frontier.

Find out more…

Ireland's Wildlife runs on the Genesis Framework from StudioPress · Hosted with InterServer

Recent Additions

  • Beneficial Garden Insects and How to Attract Them to Your Garden
  • Cuckoo spit/spittlebug foam on plants is harmless. Please leave it alone.
  • Purple Heron: an epic end to our spring Discover Wildlife Weekend
  • Free shore-based whale watching events to mark National Biodiversity Week
  • Competiton: win a border full of wildlife-friendly plants this spring
  • Woodstone® Seville 28mm Nest box Review
  • CJ Wildlife Free Delivery Weekend Plus Feeder and Food Giveaway
  • 9 top tips for feeding your garden birds

Tags

audio binoculars biodiversity birding birds Birdwatch Ireland books cetaceans citizen science CJ Wildlife competition conservation Cork fin whale full size binoculars garden birds garden wildlife Golden Eagle Trust Hawke Highly Recommended humpback whale Ireland IWDG Kerry national biodiversity data centre npws optics photography raptors reintroduction review reviews spring stranding Vanguard west cork whales whales and dolphins whalewatching whale watching white tailed eagle Wildlife wildlife crime wildlife photography wildlife podcasts

Take it from the top....

Copyright © 2022 Ireland's Wildlife · Site Design by West Cork Websites · Content by CJ Writing

Manage Cookie Consent
Like most sites, Ireland's Wildlife uses cookies to improve functionality, enhance your user experience and to gauge the popularity of our content.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}