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- Regulus ignicapilla
Includes: Madeira Firecrest
Identification
9cm
Male
- Red crown with black borders
- Gold forehead
- White supercilium
- Black eye-stripe
- Bronzy patch on shoulder
Female: reddish-gold crown
Similar Species
Goldcrest lacks the black and white head pattern.
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 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. Generally lower to the ground that Goldcrest, often in scrub, thickets and swampy areas.
Behaviour
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Collins Field Guide 5th Edition ISBN 0 00 219900 9
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
