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Madeira Firecrests are the smallest European bird species. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are slightly different. Male Madeira Firecrests have a dark-yellow frons and chin/throat. On the sides of the head they have white supercilia. Below a thin black eye-stripe they have another small white semi-annular patch. Behind this white-black-white mask they have a narrow grey patch and a prominent golden-yellow patch on the ear coverts. The crown is marked by a prominent orange central stripe, with a bold black stripe on either side of it. The front is yellowish-grey while the upperparts are olive-grey. The folded wings show prominent white and black bars, with yellowish edge lining on the flight feathers. Instead of an orange central stripe on the crown, females have a yellow one. Otherwise the two sexes are identical. The irises are dark. The narrow straight bill is black, while the legs and feet are greyish-orange. Juveniles resemble adults, but without black and yellow/orange head markings.

Madeira Firecrests have been given species status and are no longer considered to be a race of the Common Firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus).

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 Madeira Firecrest is available HERE .

As their name already suggests, Madeira Firecrests are endemic to Madeira, i.e., only the main island of the archipelago (apart from two historic records from the nearby island of Porto Santo).

Madeira Firecrests have a preference for tree heath, laurisilva and other types of woodland and forest.

J. Pires reports spotting a Madeira n Firecrest on Madeira island, Portugal, in November 2022. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by J. Pires.