Bird of the Week: Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Species: Golden-crowned Kinglet, Regulus satrapa

Family: Regulidae

Sign: Aries

Favorite hobby: staying updated on the latest Millinery innovation

Dear reader, 

Recently walking across the orange bridge, I saw a couple of familiar shapes shooting through the air ahead of me. I heard the distinctive shrill first three notes of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet’s song, but an alternative ending. I had never seen, or recognized, the Golden-crowned Kinglet in Portland, but I knew their close relative, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, well. These kinglets flitted around a tree along the bridge, never ceasing their movement as they sought out insects in the bark and branches. Like chickadees and titmice, kinglets are easy to hear but hard to keep your eye on once you’ve spotted them. The Golden-crowned Kinglet is an inhabitant of Portland year-round, but in another portion of Oregon and most of the U.S. only during its non-breeding season. The kinglets breed in Canada and the very tip-top of the Great Lakes region. Golden-crowned Kinglets are very small birds, perhaps the most diminutive of the species I have covered so far (yes, even rivaling Anna’s Hummingbird!). The female and male appearances of this species are nearly identical: rounded grey breasts, yellow, white, and black barred wings, yellow-tinged tails, and their distinctive vibrant yellow and orange crowns bordered by black. When startled or excited, males flash the orange crown that is otherwise flat against their head. Despite their size, Golden-crowned Kinglets are incredibly hearty when it comes to withstanding extreme temperatures. They have been known to winter in areas that reach below -40 degrees Fahrenheit. For warmth, they huddle together, or use their many down feathers to insulate themselves, which is why they often look so round. Golden-crowned Kinglets travel and feed in groups, even sometimes flocking with other small songbirds like Pine Warblers, Mountain Chickadees, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Downy Woodpeckers, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and Red-breasted Nuthatches. These social butterflies are territorial during breeding season though, when they typically have two broods per season one after another. 

Golden-crowned Kinglets are foliage-gleaning feeders, they search through branches and tufts of conifer needles for small arthropods and their eggs. In the winter, they also partake in seeds and search through brush piles. They will sometimes hover below leaves to capture the insects beneath them. Golden-crowned Kinglets build cup-shaped nests, which they construct of unconventional supplies like mosses, spiderwebs, downy plant material, parts of insect cocoons, lichens, and strips of bark. They line the nests with softer materials, like animal hair, fur, and feathers. Few nest descriptions sound so cozy. 

Look out for Golden-crowned Kinglets in the higher branches of conifers this winter, and listen for their distinctive three high, thin notes at the beginning of their song.