..The Goldcrest..
The Goldcrest is Irelands smallest bird (even smaller than the Wren). They favour woodland areas and because we have plenty of mature trees at Corkagh there are plenty of Goldcrests to be found throughout the park. While they generally confine themselves to Corkagh they will sometimes follow the line of trees in search of food but as they only eat insects they are unlikely to be seen at bird feeders.
Irish Goldcrests are here year round but we also have winter visitors from Northern Europe.
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| Male with distinctive orange feathers on crown |
The male and female are easily distinguished by the centre strip that runs down their head. The males is a vibrant orange surround by yellow while the females stripe is entirely yellow. The male can fluff up the orange crown feathers when courting a female or signalling his territory.
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| Female with yellow stripe on crown |
The Goldcrests song and calls are high pitched and can be missed amidst the more distinctive songs of the other birds.
In winter they will follow Tits and Treecreepers in search of the small insects that live on evergreen trees.
One of the places I most often see Goldfinches at Corkagh is on the path towards the walled garden. Most likely this is because part of that path is lined by Yew trees which is where they like to build their hammock like nests, suspended from a thick branch.
The Goldcrest normally has two broods per season starting in April. The female can lay up to 12 eggs each time and with so many mouths to feed its an advantage that the male takes part in all the stages from nest building to feeding the nestlings and fledgelings.
The juveniles, once independent, will leave their parents territory, which is quite small, and forage for food themselves until they join up with a flock when winter arrives. Because of their vulnerability to cold weather fewer than half the young will survive a bad winter.
