Goldcrest

The goldcrest is a very small passerine of the kinglet family, the smallest European bird, 8.5–9.5 cm long with a wingspan of 13.5–15.5 cm and weighing 4.5–7 g. It has greenish upperparts, whitish underparts and two white wingbars, with a plain face contrasting black irises and a bright head crest, orange and yellow in the male and yellow in the female, displayed in breeding. The scientific name means petty king or prince. Birds from the north and east of the breeding range migrate to winter further south (Wikipedia, general species account).

Two Himalayan subspecies are described: sikkimensis breeds in the Himalaya, slightly paler above with whiter underparts than the nominate, though records of this race from Ladakh claimed by Meinertzhagen are considered fraudulent, and another breeds in the Eastern Himalaya, Burma and China, darker overall, with a further form breeding in India and China. The female alone incubates the ten to twelve eggs and both parents feed the chicks. The song is a repetition of high thin notes. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, a resident and altitudinal migrant forest bird with a Moderate range of about 92,800 km² and insufficient data on trends (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).