English: Goldcrest, Goldcrested Wren
Russian: Желтоголовый королёк
Mongolian: Шармэлзэн задуулай, Шар мэлзэн танан бялзуухай
German: Wintergoldhahnchen
French: Roitelet huppe
Japanese: キクイタダキ (Kiku-itadaki)       

Body length: 8 ½-9 ½ cm.

Breeds in coniferous or mixed woods, preferring dense stands of spruce or firs; on Continent often at higher elevations. Partly resident, partly migratory. On migration often shows up in open country. Associates with tits in winter. In woods, keeps high in canopy, restless moving and hovering among branches. Confiding.

Identification: Attention to presence of a Goldcrest usually attracted by thin, high-pitched calls. Minute size (smallest bird in Europe) and combination of being pale green above and off-white below eliminates all but a few. Short neck and proportionately large head give compact, rounded impression. Dark ‘peppercorn’ eye looking large in otherwise pale, bland ‘face’. Crown-stripe yellow, bordered black at sides. Dark bill very fine.

• Adult  ♂: Much orange admixed in yellow crown-stripe, generally hidden on relaxed bird but shown in display or when feathers are fluffed up.
  
• Adult ♀: Usually no orange on crown, but a few have very little (normally not seen in the field) in center.
• Juvinile: Crown plainer than adult, bill conspicuously pale. Acquires adult-like 1st-winter plumage by end of summer.
  
• Variation: Breeders on outer Canary Islands, i.e. Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera, Hierro (ssp. teneriffae), have obvious black band across forecrown, are deeper pink-buff on underparts, and tertials are less pale-tipped. Bill subtly longer than on European Goldcrests.