The goldcrest is monogamous. The male sings during the breeding season, usually while foraging rather than from a perch. It has a display involving bowing its head towards another bird and raising the coloured crest. Firecrests will sometimes defend their territories against goldcrests, but the amount of actual competition between the species may not be very great. A Spanish study suggested that territorial conflicts between species, and other phenomena like males singing mixed or alternating songs, were most frequent when one species locally far outnumbered the other; in other circumstances, the two species learned to ignore each other's songs. However, in very small areas of conifers it is rare for the goldcrest and the firecrest to share territories; either one or the other is present, but not both. A male goldcrest will defend his territory against either species, sometimes including some firecrest phrases in his song.