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Goldcrest

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

                    iGoldcrest

                             Conservation status

   Least Concern (LC)
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Aves
   Order:   Passeriformes
   Family:  Regulidae
   Genus:   Regulus
   Species: R. regulus

                                Binomial name

   Regulus regulus
   (Linnaeus, 1758)

   The Goldcrest Regulus regulus is a very small passerine bird in the
   kinglet family, resembling the Firecrest but with a plainer face. It
   breeds in most of temperate Europe and Asia but is partly migratory and
   northern birds winter south of the breeding range. It prefers
   coniferous woodlands, although it has a wider range in winter, when it
   is often found with tit flocks. It builds an open nest and lays 4-12
   eggs.

   The Goldcrest is the smallest European bird, measuring from 8.5 to
   9.5cm. It is dull greenish above, with buffy white underparts, two
   white wingbars, a plain face with a conspicuous black eye. The crown
   has black sides and a narrow black front, and a bright central crest,
   orange in the male and yellow in the female, which is displayed during
   breeding. It is a restless species, constantly on the move as it
   searches for insects.

   Goldcrests on the Canary Islands have a broader black band across the
   forehead, and yellower wingbars and belong to separate subspecies. They
   are sometimes considered a separate species, but usually are included
   in the goldcrest. Recently, it has been established that there are in
   fact two distant Canary Islands populations: the Tenerife Goldcrest (R.
   (r.) teneriffae) and the Western Canary Islands Goldcrest (R. (r.)
   ellenthalerae) (Päckert et al., 2006).

   The Goldcrest is the national bird of Luxembourg. In Britain,
   Goldcrests were previously called Gold-crested Wrens, and are
   celebrated in a poem by Charles Tennyson Turner with that title.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldcrest"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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