Appearance:

Smallest bird of Western Palearctic. Crown stripe yellow in female, orange in male. Since bird is often viewed from below, the crown stripe is often not visible. The dark eye with the large, pale grey eye-ring is a better character. Pale wingbars and pale tips of tertials. No supercilium. Behaviour essentially tit-like. Restlessly moving among branches in treetops, with frequent hovering to get at insects.

Sound:

Contact call a very high pitched "zit zit zit", only similar to Firecrest and treecreepers. Treecreepers usually calls with longer "zzzziiiiit" repeated at regular intervals, while Goldcrest calls in phrases with two to four calls in series in an uneven rhythm. Firecrest contact calls lower pitched than Goldcrest, and in a softer tone (but quite similar). Song: a very high-pitched, undulating series of arpeggiated notes moving down and up again, repeated 4-5 times ending with a marked "conclusion" (like "trying to start a tiny motor and failing"). Timbre of song similar to contact call.

Song:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

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Appearance:

Adult male easily recognized with all yellow head with dark edges and grey back. Prominent white wing-bars and all dark bill, lacking the pale base of Yellow Wagtail. Females and adult winter lacks the dark lore-stripe of Yellow Wagtail, and the flanks are grey. The same applies to the juveniles. These also give a very grey impression, almost resembling a Pied Wagtail without the dark breast-pattern. Juvenile Yellow Wagtails have a less grey and more olive tone to their backs. The dark facial markings/earcoverts of females/winter/juveniles birds are usually framed by the continuation of the strong supercilium. Some Yellow Wagtails are very similar to Citrine, and call and tail length should be considered as well (tail longer in Citrine).

Sound:

Contact call resembles Yellow Wagtail, but is harsher with a more buzzing quality, and of shorter duration. The pitch is more constant, lacking the rise and fall of Yellow Wagtail. The song is a loose repetition of phrases, comprised of disyllabic or monosyllabic contact calls.

Contact call:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

CC

Sounds:Recorded by Jelmer Poelstra,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license