Family Kinglets and Firecrests (Regulidae)
Least Concern
Common Firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla)
Taxonomy
French: Roitelet triple-bandeau German: Sommergoldhähnchen Spanish: Reyezuelo listado
Other common names:
Eurasian Firecrest
Taxonomy:
Sylvia ignicapilla
Temminck
, 1820,France, Belgium, Germany, etc
.
Subspecies and Distribution
R. i. ignicapilla
(Temminck, 1820) – W & C Europe and Asia Minor.
R. i. balearicus
Jordans, 1923 – #RBalearic Is and N Africa.
R. i. tauricus
Red’kin, 2001 – Crimea.
R. i. caucasicus
Stepanyan, 1998 – W Caucasus.
Descriptive notes
9 cm; 5–7 g. Tiny olive-green passerine with striking head pattern. Male nominate race has central crown feathers deep orange-red at front, merging into bright yellow... read more
Voice
Territorial song a series of whistled notes ascending in frequency, delivered in notable crescendo... read more
Habitat
Prefers coniferous forest with spruce (Picea) and fir (Abies); unlike R.... read more
Food and feeding
Arthropods, including moths and caterpillars (Lepidoptera), aphids (Aphidoidea) and spiders (Araneae), among others; strong preference for... read more
Breeding
Season from beginning of Apr to Aug; two broods per season. Nest a typical regulid cup of three layers, made of moss, lichen, feathers and... read more
Movements
Primarily migratory. Earliest migration activities 7–8 days after end of moult; leaves C... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened. Locally common. Estimates of European population variously 3,200,000–4,600,000 breeding pairs and between 6,000,000 and 13,000,000 individuals... read more
Traditionally treated as conspecific with R. madeirensis, but see latter species. Race teneriffae of R. regulus sometimes included in present species. Geographical variation only slight; N African birds described as race laeneni, but considered indistinguishable from and thus synonymized with balearicus. Species name often listed as ignicapillus, but original name is a noun phrase and thus indeclinable. Four subspecies recognized.