Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Goldcrest
Scientific Name:
Regulus regulus
Length:
9cm
Wingspan (mm):
14cm
Weight:
6g Description
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 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.
Diet
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.