Overview

Ruby-crowned Kinglet: Medium kinglet, olive-green upperparts and olive-buff underparts. Head has inconspicuous tuft of red crown feathers and white eye rings. Wings are dark with two white bars. Tail is slightly notched and has white edges. Weak fluttering flight on shallow wing beats.

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet: Breeds from Alaska east across Canada to Newfoundland, south to California and New Mexico, and to the Great Lakes region and northern New England in the east. Spends winters from southern British Columbia and California south to Mexico and across the southern tier of states to southern New England. Preferred habitats include coniferous and deciduous forests.

Voice Text

"tsee-tsee", "liberty-liberty-liberty", "je-dtit", "cack-cack"

• The Ruby-crowned Kinglet was described in 1766 by Linnaeus; its generic name is Latin for 'little king'.
• It differs sufficiently in its voice and plumage from other kinglets that it is occasionally afforded its own genus, Corthylio.
• They feed lower in the canopy than the Golden-crowned and characteristically hovers above a twig looking for caterpillars, aphids, and other insects.
• A group of kinglets has many collective nouns, including a "castle", "court", "princedom", and "dynasty" of kinglets.

• Hutton's Vireo
• Golden-crowned Kinglet

Kinglets (Regulidae)

ORDER

The kinglets are one of the one hundred eighteen families of birds in the order PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez); a large taxonomic order that also includes the pipits, the titmice, and the gnatcatchers.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

There are six species of kinglet in one genus in the Regulidae (pronounced reh-GYOO-lih-dee) family, a group of birds restricted to the forests of the Northern Hemisphere.

NORTH AMERICA

In North America, two species of kinglets in one genus occur. These are the Golden-crowed Kinglet and the Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

KNOWN FOR

Among the smallest of Passerines, the kinglets are known for their diminutive size. Both the Golden-crowned and the Ruby-crowned Kinglets are also known for being very numerous during migration and in regions where they overwinter with hundreds of individuals often encountered ina single day.

PHYSICAL

Members of the Regulidae are very small birds with medium length tails, longish wings, medium length, thin legs with strong feet for perching, and a rounded head with a short, thin, pointed bill.

COLORATION

Kinglets have dull olive upperparts, and gray or whitish underparts with yellowish edging to the feathers of the wings. They also have black in the wings, in the tail, and some species have black markings on the face. All species have one or two white wing bars, white markings on the face, and distinctive patches of bright orange, yellow, or red on the crown.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

Members of the Regulidae in North America are forest birds although they also occur in second growth and scrub habitats during migration and winter. Both species breed in boreal and montane coniferous forests, and spend the winter in a variety of wooded habitats in the southern United States and Mexico.

MIGRATION

Kinglets migrate to the southern United States and Mexico for the winter.

HABITS

The kinglets do not nest in colonies but typically flock together with other kinglets and with other small birds outside of the breeding season. These arboreal birds forage for small arthropods in trees and bushes by gleaning them off of the vegetation while perched, and picking them off of the vegetation while hovering.

CONSERVATION

Kinglets are very common, non-threatened species.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Golden-crowned Kinglet is highly tied to spruce-fir forests while breeding and prefers similar habitats during migration and winter. Formerly restricted to breeding in the boreal forests of the far north, this species now also breeds much further south in many areas with spruce plantations.

Author

Artist

Michael Oberhofer