This looks similar to the teensy ruby-crowned kinglets I see sometimes in coastal Texas. Such a pretty shot, and if they're like the kinglets, difficult to capture because they don't stay still. Lovely...
@featherstone26 Thank you very much Sue. Yes they are related to your kinglets, and yes they share the same habit of continuously moving around and rarely pausing.
We have two very similar ones, this the Goldcrest, with a yellow flash on his crown, and a very much rarer and more local one, a Firecrest with an orange flash.
@rosiekind@carolmw Thank you both for your lovely comments. This can be quite a good time of the year to see Goldcrests, although they prefer conifers, you can see them them on the bare branches on deciduous trees and bushes. They also seem to spend more time down on the lower branches, searching for food and once found they can be amazingly confiding. I have stood before now with my face less than twelve inches away from them.
If you keep your eyes open near groups of conifer trees or bushes, you might spot the sudden movements of them flitting through the branches.
However the easy way, (once you have learned it), is that like Kingfishers and groups of Long Tailed Tits, Goldcrests are very noisy, they have a very high pitched call, which you often hear before seeing the bird.
If you want to hear it, I am sure there are plenty of recordings on line.
We have two very similar ones, this the Goldcrest, with a yellow flash on his crown, and a very much rarer and more local one, a Firecrest with an orange flash.
If you keep your eyes open near groups of conifer trees or bushes, you might spot the sudden movements of them flitting through the branches.
However the easy way, (once you have learned it), is that like Kingfishers and groups of Long Tailed Tits, Goldcrests are very noisy, they have a very high pitched call, which you often hear before seeing the bird.
If you want to hear it, I am sure there are plenty of recordings on line.