Golden-crowned Kinglet

Regulus satrapaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Kinglets (Regulidae)

Overview

Golden-crowned Kinglet: Very small, warbler-like bird, olive-green to gray upperparts and pale breast. Head has bright orange crown patch bordered with yellow and black, white eyebrows and black bill. Tail is short and wings have two bars. Weak fluttering flight on shallow wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Golden-crowned Kinglet: Common from southern Alaska to central Canada and southeast to the Carolinas; spends winters south to Florida and the Gulf coast. Preferred habitats include dense conifer forests; also found in deciduous and mixed forests.

Listen:

Voice Text

"tsee-tsee-tsee"

Golden-crowned Kinglet

● Song: "tsee-tsee-tsee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Golden-crowned Kinglet: Eats mainly insects, insect eggs, and seeds; drinks tree sap, sometimes from sapsucker drill wells; forages while moving among branches and leaves, often flicking its wings to flush prey.

● Breeding & nesting: Golden-crowned Kinglet: Five to eleven creamy white eggs, splotched brown or gray, are laid in a nest made of lichens and moss, lined with bark chips, rootlets and feathers, and built on a conifer branch from 30 to 60 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 14 to 15 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Golden-crowned Kinglet: Ruby-crowned Kinglet lacks white eyebrows and black eye-line.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering flight, alternating rapid shallow wing strokes with a brief pull of wings to sides. Hovers over food before dipping down to pick it up with beak.

Golden-crowned Kinglet Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Golden-crowned Kinglet: Common from southern Alaska to central Canada and southeast to the Carolinas; spends winters south to Florida and the Gulf coast. Preferred habitats include dense conifer forests; also found in deciduous and mixed forests.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.2 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America