Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Overview

The ruby-crowned kinglet (Corthylio calendula) is a very small passerine bird found throughout North America. As one of the continent's smallest songbirds, it is distinguished by its remarkably loud and complex vocalisations and an often concealed scarlet-red crown patch on males.

Identification

• Measures 9 to 11 cm in length with a wingspan of 16 to 18 cm, featuring gray-green upperparts and olive-buff underparts.
• Displays two white wingbars, with the outer bar adjacent to a dark band, along with a broken white eye-ring.
• Males possess a scarlet-red crown patch that is usually hidden by surrounding feathers, while females and juveniles lack this feature.
• Moves with short hops and bursts of rapid wingbeats, exhibiting a characteristic wing-flicking motion; its song includes high-pitched notes, low trills, and a repeated "galloping" phrase.

Habitat

Breeding habitat consists of spruce-fir and other coniferous forests in the northern and mountainous regions of the United States and Canada. Its range extends from northwest Canada and Alaska south to Mexico, where the nominate subspecies winters in northern Central America.

Diet

Primarily insectivorous, foraging actively in trees and shrubs for small insects and spiders. It also consumes berries and tree sap, and may hover over branches or fly out to catch insects in mid-air.

Did you know?

Despite its minuscule size of 5 to 10 g, the ruby-crowned kinglet can lay up to 12 eggs in a single clutch, the largest of any North American passerine relative to its body size.