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Goldcrests are one of the smallest European bird species. Details of their plumage depend on race. Their most prominent feature is their crest, with two longitudinal black stripes on the sides of the crown, which is orange in males and yellow in females. They have incomplete white eye-rings and otherwise grey sides of the head, with an olive-grey patch behind each eye. The front is greyish-buff, while the back is more olive-grey. The mostly olive-grey wings have prominent white bars and also white tips on the ends of the flight feathers. The body is rotund; the olive-grey tail is slightly forked. The irises are dark; the bill is dark-grey and the legs are yellowish-grey. Juveniles have a horn-coloured bill and a plain, grey head without any crest markings for the first few weeks.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Goldcrest is available HERE .

Goldcrests are a partly migratory Eurasian species with many different races. In continental Eurasia there are 9 different races, and there are another 5 on various Atlantic islands. Altogether, their distribution ranges from the eastern Atlantic islands off North-west Africa, via most of Europe and parts of Asia Minor, into mid-latitude Asia, as far as Japan. For more details see e.g. Wikipedia . They are partly migratory, with the northern parts of their range as summer breeding areas and most southern locations as winter quarters. In most of mid-latitude Europe and parts of central Asia they are permanent residents, while the far-eastern races, in eastern China and Japan, are purely migratory.

In Europe, Goldcrests, nominate race "regulus", are permanent residents in mid-latitude regions, from Iceland via the British Isles and central Europe to southern Scandinavia and eastern Europe. In central Scandinavia and north-eastern Europe they are found as summer breeding visitors, while in most of the Mediterranean countries, south-eastern Europe and around the Black Sea they are found only as winter visitors. Only in (relatively) high-altitude regions within those southern parts of their range they can also be permanent residents (parts of central Spain, parts of the central Italian mountain range and parts of the Balkans). Goldcrests are NOT found in high-latitude and high-altitude central Scandinavia.

Goldcrests have a preference for mature conifer woodland and forest especially for nesting, but also during the rest of the year. Because of their special metabolism, they can be found up to high altitudes, often up to 3000 m, occasionally even up to 4800 m.

Race "regulus"