Golden-crowned Kinglet

March 15, 2018
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Regulus satrapa

by Helena Ives, University of Connecticut
As a graduating senior at UConn, I’ve saved one of the best courses – Professor Margaret Rubega’s Ornithology – for my last semester. During the class’s recent outings in the UConn Forest we’ve had a couple of Golden-crowned Kinglet sightings. Having seen our fair share of Blue Jays, Carolina Wrens, and cardinals in the past few weeks, Golden-crowned Kinglets have added a bit of excitement to our field notebook musings!

Where and when to find it: Golden-crowned Kinglet is a boreal and montane breeding species. For the 1994 Connecticut Breeding Bird Atlas, it was a confirmed breeder in two locations in Litchfield County.

It is also an annual winter visitor and you’re much more likely to find it in our mixed deciduous forests, swamps, and wooded backyards from late fall to early spring.

Within a forested area, Golden-crowned Kinglets flit from tree to tree gleaning insects but also search for seeds in piles of leaves and pine needles during the winter.

Although they can be found in almost any forested ecosystem in Connecticut, eBird data show that the most common places to see Golden-crowned Kinglets are the northwestern corner and central areas of the state.

What it looks and sounds like: One of North America’s smallest songbirds, the Golden-crowned Kinglet is only about three inches long, with a rounded body. Its short, thin bill is used for gleaning insects, and is also helpful in distinguishing kinglets from other species in similar habitats.

This species is named for the breeding adults’ bright yellow-orange crown that is used for display. Below this crest, these kinglets have black and white stripes that help it remain undetected in the forest. Most of the body of Golden-crowned Kinglets is a pale olive-gray but they also have white wing bars and yellow accents on their black flight feathers.

Juveniles are very similar in appearance to both sexes of adults and lack only their golden crown.

In winter they are fairly quiet. Their most-heard call is typically three very high, thin notes followed by a lower, tumbling warble.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet, the only other kinglet found in Connecticut, is similar in body shape but a bit larger. Most notably, Ruby-crowned Kinglets are more olive-colored, feature a noticeable eye ring, and do not have the black and white facial stripes. Their crest is, as noted by their name, bright ruby red when displayed.

The Ruby-crowned Kinglet’s song – which you’ll be hearing next month as the bird migrates through – starts similarly with high, thin notes, which are then followed by musical twittering and then by a loud series of notes, which aids in distinguishing the two species.

Conservation status: Although they are listed as a species of Least Concern, the Golden-crowned Kinglet saw significant declines in numbers from the 1960’s to 2014, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. During this period, the population fell around 2.5 percent per year, resulting in a population decline of over 75 percent.

Historically, Golden-crowned Kinglets bred exclusively in boreal forests, but have gradually expanded their range into the forests of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts. This expansion has significantly aided the species in sustaining its status of Least Concern despite numerous changes within their habitats due to deforestation, warming temperatures, and the expansion of human societies.

In addition to the two nesting locations confirmed for the 1994 Connecticut Breeding Bird Atlas, there were also four probable nesting locations and five possible. It will be interesting to see whether surveyors for the upcoming Connecticut Bird Atlas find it again.

Helena Ives is a senior at the University of Connecticut, majoring in natural resources with a concentration in wildlife conservation. She worked for Connecticut Audubon monitoring birds as part of the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds in the summer of 2017. Her previous Bird Finder articles have been about Red-breasted Merganser, Pine Warbler, and Semi-palmated Plover.