Goldcrest Regulus regulus 戴菊
Category I. Accidental.
IDENTIFICATION
Nov. 2024, Michelle and Peter Wong.
8.5-9.5 cm. Tiny and compact with a distinctive pale face surrounding a dark eye and bordered by a dark gape and short moustachial stripe. Upperparts are pale olive-green, wing is distinctly patterned with pale tips to greater coverts and tertials and blackish patch at base of secondaries.
Nov. 2024, Michelle and Peter Wong.
Male has lemon-yellow central crown stripe with orange feathers at rear when raised; female has paler crown stripe and no orange. The obvious grey on the head and hind neck is indicative of R. r. japonensis.
VOCALISATIONS
The typical calls from a foraging group include a light chatter interspersed with very short and rather quiet ‘chik’ notes.
DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE
Has occurred in evergreen broadleaf secondary forest and in trees and bushes at a migration hotspot.
OCCURRENCE
2020: one was on Po Toi on 31 March (Diskin 2024) while another was in Tai Po Kau on 20 April.
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
Actively forages in the manner of Pallas’s Leaf Warbler.
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
Occurs from western Europe east through the Palearctic zone to southern Siberia, with large disjunct areas between the Caspian and Black Seas, northeast Asia, central China and the Himalayas (Martens and Päckert 2020). In China breeds in the northeast, central and southwest parts of the country, as well as in northern Xinjiang; northerly populations are migratory through east China and western Xinjiang (Liu and Chen 2021).
Fourteen subspecies are recognised (AviList Core Team 2025). On range the taxon most likely to occur is R. r. japonensis, the easternmost subspecies.
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Near-threatened. Population decreasing mildly.
AviList Core Team (2025). AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025
Diskin, D. (2024). Goldcrest Regulus regulus at Po Toi. The first Hong Kong record. Hong Kong Bird Report 2020: 264-267.
Martens, J. and M. Päckert (2020). Goldcrest (Regulus regulus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.goldcr1.01
