The
Ruby-crowned Kinglet is found in the family Regulidae.
The Regulidae family includes six different species of
kinglets, only two of which are found in Western New
York. One of these is the Ruby-crowned Kinglet and the
other, the Golden-crowned Kinglet. Kinglets are small insectivores that have
olive plumage, an eye ring or stripe, and a colorful
patch on the crown of the head. The Ruby-crowned
Kinglet has an olive green-gray body with two distinct
white wing-bars and a broken, white eye-ring. It is a
sexually dichromatic species, the males have
a ruby-red patch of feathers on their crown that is only visible when the male is agitated. This
ruby-red patch is the only way to distinguish the males
and females because otherwise they look very similar.
Photo: Kyle Horton
The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is found in forests with
mixed conifers and northern hardwoods, including white spruce, black
spruce, and paper birch. They breed in throughout Canada and
winter in southern US and into Central America. It forages for food in trees and shrubs
and on small branches. The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is an
insectivore, but also can eat limited amounts of seeds, fruit, and
vegetation. During the breeding season insects become the only
food source and no vegetation is eaten. Insects are obtained
by hovering, gleaning, and hawking. Hovering is done above leaves to get insects under
the leaves. Gleaning occurs when the bird perches and pecks at
insects nearby. Hawking is perching and locating insects in the air
then flying out and catching them.
Photo: Kyle Horton
Ruby-crowned Kinglet hops and side-steps along branches and it often
flicks its wings while perched. It also flies short, direct
distances with very small rapid wing beats that makes the bird
appear to fly in a zig-zag pattern. The males display their
ruby-red patch on the top of their head when they sing, defend their
territory, show aggression towards other males, and attract mates. Ruby-crowned Kinglets create monogamous bond pairs and
brood only once each season. The nests are generally
found towards the tops of trees, especially in spruce
trees, and are usually 30 meters above the ground.
Ruby-crowned Kinglets can lay up to 12 eggs, which is
the one of the largest clutch sizes for a North American
passerine of its size. The eggs are oval and white
sometimes with brown or red speckling. Only the female
incubates the eggs, but both parents bring food to the
nestlings.
Ruby-crowned Kinglets are a migratory species in
Western New York. They can be found at Tifft
Nature Preserve and Forest Lawn in Buffalo commonly during migration in the spring and fall. These birds are also commonly
found in other areas in Western New York including many forested
areas such as in our state park system.
