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

CC

Appearance:

Unmistakable. Only black and white passerine of it's size in Europe. Short rounded wings and exceptionally long tail. Wings fan-shaped and tail graded. Tail constitutes about half of the total length in adult birds. Compact body but relatively long legs. Flat crown. White wing patches/flight feathers very conspicuous in flight.

Sound:

Most notable sound a harsh, chattering "chechechecheche" used as warning call, or when mobbing predators. Rich repertoire includes soft and surprisingly varied sub-song.

Alarm call:

Distribution:

Xeno-canto: map

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC