Ruby-crowned Kinglet - your inquisitive Sonoma County neighbor

December 6, 2006 on 1:07 pm | In Daily Local Birder |

Greetings!

The Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula was one of the first birds I was able to identify at a glance as a child. However, I must add that our household word for it was the devil bird because of it’s early morning, alarm-clock habit of coming to knock on all of the bedroom windows of our home. Peck, peck peck its small, strong beak would tap the glass, and its large eyes would peer in at us, as if to say,”Hmmmmm?”

Was the bird really looking at us, trying to get us going each morning, or perhaps fascinated by all the colorful objects in our rooms? It may be that he was only transfixed by his own reflection in the window pane, thinking he’d spied an enemy and that a good knock on the head would drive this foe away. Whatever the case, his habit enabled me to study him in detail, and his diminuitive size and brisk little ways won my heart over the years.

Field notes on the Ruby-crowned Kinglet
As my accompanying sketch shows, the most distinctive marking on this small, grey/brown bird is his head patch. It is hard to do justice to the exact hue of his crown, which I would liken to the throat of an Allen’s or Rufous Hummingbird. Ruby is a good word…rubies are pinkish, magenta-red…not the fire red of garnets. However, the difficulty with using the red crown as a field mark is that it is only visible when the light is hitting the bird at a certain angle - again, rather like a hummingbird. In addition to this, female Ruby-crowned kinglets lack the regal crown, though in every other respect they closely match their mates. Because of this phenomenon, it is the extremely pronounced white eye ring that has become, for me, the touchstone for identifying the Ruby-crowned Kinglet. I know of no other Sonoma County bird of this size (3 1/2″ to 4 1/2″) with so large a white circle ringing his large, onyx eye. If I were teaching a new birder how to spot this fowl, this would be the mark I would tell them to look for.

The underbelly of this kinglet is a blend of soft lemon, fawn and white hues, and his top side is a soft cocoa-grey. Look for black and white barring on the wings and a black tail. He is easy to distinguish from the Yellow-rumped Warbler once you know the markings. The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is a winter visitor to Sonoma County, and according to my bird guide books, he shares territory with a permanent resident - the Golden-crowned Kinglet. However, I want to add that my years of birdwatching have yet to yield a single sighting fo the Golden-crowned Kinglet, while his relative has been everywhere, all my life. Am I just unlucky in this, or are my maps wrong? At any rate, the elusive Golden-crowned has a striped black and white face, gold head patch and yellow on the wings and tail.

The kinglet’s movements are of interest. He flits rapidly from perch to perch, flicking his tail, and I have observed him hover, exactly like a hummingbird, beside the trunk of my apple tree, investigating the holes left behind by the Red-breasted Sapsucker.

Despite his minute size, I would not classify this winter neighbor as a shy bird, and I have stood within inches of him many times. Get quiet enough in your own movements to have this experience of drawing near to the birds you observe. It’s a delight.

Where to see the Ruby-crowned Kinglet in Sonoma County, California

Last Christmas Eve, I had such a wonderful experience with these birds, I want to share it in hopes that locals may try this out. My husband and I went for a walk in Jack London State Park, and the accompanying map shows exactly where we saw not one, but an entire flock of Ruby-crowned Kinglets in the park. This was the first time I ever saw these birds flocking. In my garden, they are always solitary, but I had read that they do join up with their friends, including other kinglets, chickadees and warblers, to forage for food. It was simply thrilling to witness this ‘herd’ of dainty fowls, flickering through the forest. Click my birding map to see a larger image, and perhaps this December, you, too, can find the flock.

Further notes on the Ruby-crowned Kinglet

The call I hear most frequently from this wild bird his his sharp, dry jidit but he also has a twiddling little whistle. He is an insect eater, and can be seen in both evergreen and deciduous trees, balancing on the merest of twigs. He can also hang upside down, like a Bushtit, when he chooses to.

The kinglet weaves an oblong nest with high walls, with a roof hole. The cozy home is suspended from a branch. The nest is filled with feathers and other soft matter and 5-11 cream, speckled eggs are lain.

I am sorry to say that no kinglet I have met as an adult has had the window-knocking habit of the devil bird of my youth. And yet, the strong presence of these birds in our local area should provide any interested birder with ample opportunities for identification and close observation.