Much like the Ruby-crowned Kinglets of last month’s Species Spotlight, Golden-crowned Kinglets are tiny (barely larger than a hummingbird) birds with an overall olive and grey coloring, and a surprise on their crest. They have a black-and-white striped face, a thin white wingbar, and yellow edges to their black flight feathers. As their name suggests, Golden-crowned Kinglets have a bright golden crown of yellow-orange feathers that stays concealed most of the time. Some of the more robust male’s golden crowns are so vibrant, it almost looks like they are hiding a ruby-crest within their golden feathers. To see their crown raised, catch them during nesting season, defending their territory from other males with a rapid-fire ‘tsee’ note call, and flaring his crown patch.
Though tiny, they are hardy little birds, wintering in areas that routinely get up to negative 40 at night. They used to breed almost exclusively in remote boreal spruce-fir forests in North America, but they have extended their range southward over time, going ever lower during migration. While migrating, they stop in a broad range of habitats like fields, yards, and coniferous and deciduous forests- showing up even more abundantly during the wintertime in riverside habitats, cities, suburbs and a wider variety of swamps and forests.
These kinglets are insectivores, though they will eat a small amount of seeds in the winter alongside Ruby-crowned Kinglets and chickadees.
Another way they are hardy is that though they are tiny, they lay clutches of eggs with up to 11 eggs! They usually raise two broods per nesting season too! The male and the female work together to make the nest, and then the male establishes his territory with that crown raised. The male will bring food to the female while she does all the incubation, usually lasting about 15 days. The female feeds her first brood only up until the day after they leave the nest. She then starts laying the second set of eggs while the male takes care of the first brood.
Did you know? A group of kinglets has many collective nouns, including a “castle”, “court”, “princedom”, and “dynasty” of kinglets.
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