#0620 · 🐦 birds
Goldcrest
🇳🇱 Goudhaan ·Regulus regulus
7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The goldcrest ( Regulus regulus ) is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. Its colourful golden crest feathers gives rise to its English and scientific names, and possibly to it being called the "king of the birds" in European folklore. Several subspecies are recognised across the very large distribution range that includes much of Eurasia and the islands of Macaronesia. Birds from the north and east of its breeding range migrate to winter further south.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 516 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 34,843 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Goldcrest
- Nederlands
- Goudhaan
- scientific name
- Regulus regulus
- class
- Aves
- order
- Passeriformes
- family
- Regulidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 516
- sightings in Europe
- 26,288
- sightings worldwide
- 34,843
- GBIF records in NL
- 273,994
- weight
- 0.8 g
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Regulidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 793469, Wikidata Q26657, GBIF 2484596, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.