page_title: Goldcrest
section_title: The Atlantic islands
hierarchical_section_title: Goldcrest / Taxonomy / Subspecies / The Atlantic islands
context_page_description: The goldcrest is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. Its colourful golden crest feathers, as well as being called the "king of the birds" in European folklore, gives rise to its English and scientific names. The scientific name, R. regulus, means king or knight. Several subspecies are recognised across the very large distribution range that includes much of the Palearctic and the islands of Macaronesia and Iceland. Birds from the north and east of its breeding range migrate to winter further south.
  This kinglet has greenish upper-parts, whitish under-parts, and has two white wingbars. It has a plain face contrasting black irises and a bright head crest, orange and yellow in the male and yellow in the female, which is displayed during breeding. It superficially resembles the common firecrest, which largely shares its European range, but the latter's bronze shoulders and strong face pattern are distinctive. The song is a repetition of high thin notes, slightly higher-pitched than those of its relative.
context_section_description: Two groups of goldcrest taxa are found on the Atlantic islands of Macaronesia. Birds on the Canary Islands are ancient colonists, whereas those on The Azores are of more recent origin. There are no goldcrests on Madeira, where the Madeira firecrest is the only Regulus species.
  The Canary Islands were colonised in two waves. The first step was the occupation of Tenerife and La Gomera 1.9–2.3 million years ago, followed by a separate invasion of El Hierro and La Palma 1.3–1.8 mya.
  
  Birds from the Canary Islands are particularly distinctive having a black forehead, pink-buff underparts and a darker closed wing, and have been sometimes treated either as a subspecies of the common firecrest or as a different Regulus species altogether. They were sometimes called the Tenerife goldcrest, no matter which of the islands they lived on; however, a 2006 study of the vocalisations of these birds indicate that they actually comprise two subspecies of the goldcrest that are separable on voice; R. r. teneriffae occurring on Tenerife and the newly described subspecies, R. r. ellenthalerae, the western Canary Islands goldcrest, occurring on the smaller islands of La Palma and El Hierro. 
  Tenerife goldcrest R. r. teneriffae (Seebohm, 1883). Found on Tenerife and La Gomera, Canary Islands; it is a distinctive, small subspecies with a black forehead and pink-buff underparts.
  Western Canary Islands goldcrest R. r. ellenthalerae (Päckert et al., 2006). Resident on La Palma and El Hierro, Canary Islands.
  Differences in songs, genetics and morphology suggests that the Azores were colonised in a single invasion in the late Pleistocene, about 100,000 years ago. It is likely that the initial colonisation was of the easternmost islands, with a subsequent spread to the central and western island groups from the western caldera of São Miguel, where both eastern and western song types are found.
  Sao Miguel Goldcrest R. r. azoricus (Seebohm, 1883). Found only on São Miguel, Azores; it is like R. r. inermis, except the underparts are more olive-buff.
  Western Azores goldcrest R. r. inermis (Murphy & Chapin, 1929). Resident on Flores, Faial, Terceira, São Jorge and Pico, Azores; its upper-parts are a darker olive-green than those of the nominate form, and the underparts are also darker.
  Santa Maria goldcrest R. r. sanctaemariae (Vaurie, 1954). Found only on Santa Maria Island (Azores); it is paler than other Azores subspecies and whitish below.
caption: The recently discovered subspecies R. r. ellenthalerae occurs in laurisilva forest on La Palma (above) and El Hierro.
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