Common Firecrest

Regulus ignicapilla

The common firecrest, also known as the firecrest, is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. It breeds in most of temperate Europe and northwestern Africa, and is partially migratory, with birds from central Europe wintering to the south and west of their breeding range. Firecrests in the Balearic Islands and north Africa are widely recognised as a separate subspecies, but the population on Madeira, previously also treated as a subspecies, is now treated as a distinct species, the Madeira firecrest, Regulus madeirensis. A fossil ancestor of the firecrest has been identified from a single wing bone. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 335,683 times across 37 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

See the Common Firecrest on the live map

Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 19°C (typically 14 to 22°C, from 21 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 40°N in August to 55°N in July, about 1,700 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.