Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Regulus calendulaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Kinglets (Regulidae)

Overview

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

Range and Habitat

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

Listen:

Voice Text

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

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

● Song: "tsee-tsee", "liberty-liberty-liberty", "je-dtit", "cack-cack"

● Foraging & Feeding: Ruby-Crowned Kinglet: Diet consists of insects, insect eggs, fruits, and seeds; forages by gleaning tree trunks, branches, and dense foliage.

● Breeding & nesting: Ruby-Crowned Kinglet: Five to eleven creamy white eggs splotched with brown or gray are laid in a nest suspended from twigs below a sheltering and concealing horizontal branch. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Ruby-Crowned Kinglet: Golden-crowned Kinglet has a white stripe above the eye, orange crown patch (male), and paler underparts. Hutton's Vireo is larger, stockier, and has a stouter bill.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering flight with shallow wing beats.

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

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationWidespread

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.2 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America