Common Firecrest

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Photo by sopete
New Forest UK, May2010

Regulus ignicapilla

Includes: Madeira Firecrest

Distribution

Patchy and discontinuous range in Europe breeding from Brittany, east across Europe, including Denmark, to about 30 degrees east in Russia.

In the south breeds in the northern half of Iberia and extreme south of Spain, central and southern France, Italy and parts of the Balkans and Greece.

Also breeds on Madeira, Mallorca, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and Crete, in North-West Africa and parts of northern Turkey and the Caucasus.

Very small numbers breed in Britain, mainly in southern England and the New Forest in particular.

Northern and eastern populations are migratory wintering in western Europe and around the Mediterranean, birds from remainder of range are largely resident.

Recorded as a vagrant in Finland.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspeces^[1]:

• R. i. madeirensis: is longer-billed with duller crown stripe and shorter [[Topography#Heads|supercilium]

• Madeira (eastern Atlantic Ocean)

• R. i. ignicapilla:

• England and western Europe to Mediterranean and Asia Minor

• R. i. balearica: has greyer plumage

• Balearic Islands and North Africa (Morocco to northern Tunisia)

Habitat

Breeds in deciduous, mixed and coniferous forest, also evergreen oak and tree-heath around the Mediterranean.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Common Firecrest. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Common_Firecrest

External Links

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