| Smaller even than a Wren, the Goldcrest is not only the United
Kingdom's smallest bird but also Europe's. It is a olive-green bird with
buff white underparts and a distinctive orange or yellow stripe on its crown.
It has two whitish wing bars and a dark mark on the wings. The crest stripe
is orange in the male and yellow in the female. It has large eyes for such
a small bird and a thin black bill. They eat mainly insects and prefer coniferous
forest but can be found, especially in autumn and winter, in deciduous woods.
Their beautiful nests are made by the females of moss and lichens, stuck
together with spider's webs and hung under branches. Although fairly common,
they are often very difficult to see as they are constantly moving amongst
trees and branches; often in the tops of trees. |
