Common Firecrest

The common firecrest, often called simply the firecrest, is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. It breeds across most of temperate Europe and northwestern Africa and is partially migratory, with central European birds wintering to the south and west of their breeding range; the Balearic Islands and north African populations are widely recognized as a separate subspecies, while the Madeira population, once also treated as a subspecies, is now regarded as the distinct Madeira firecrest, Regulus madeirensis. A fossil ancestor of the firecrest has been identified from a single wing bone.