Golden-crowned Kinglet

The Golden-crowned Kinglet is one of the smallest bird species that you can find anywhere in the world. These tiny birds are especially remarkable in their abilities to survive in extremely cold climates, nesting in the northern forests and wintering throughout most of the United States. They have been known to spend nights at regions that drop down to temperatures as low as -40 Fahrenheit, often huddling together for warmth. Their preference for these boreal spruce-fir habitats has earned them a spot as some of the most interesting bird species in the world.

About Golden-crowned Kinglets

Due to their preference for such secluded habitats, we still do not know as much about them as we would like to. Although they are rather difficult to spot initially, their bright yellow crowns can give them away to the attentive eyes. Their sharp and thin call notes can also be heard through the dense foliage of the high branches that they nest in. These birds are sisters to the Goldcrests of Europe and Asia but are not very closely related to any other species found in North America. Today, we would like to throw some light on how to understand them better and to accurately find them more easily in their natural habitats.

● Golden-crowned Kinglet Photos, Color Pattern, Song
● Golden-crowned Kinglet Size, Eating Behavior, Habitat
● Golden-crowned Kinglet Range and Migration, Nesting

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Golden-crowned Kinglet Color Pattern

Golden-crowned Kinglets exhibit slight sexual differences. Adults of both sexes have olive upperparts with two thin white wing-bars on their black wings. Both sexes also have yellow edges to their black flight feathers. Adult males have a yellow and orange patch on their crowns with a black border. While females only have a yellow patch. The orange portion of the male crown is generally hidden or entirely absent in juveniles. Juveniles are thus similar in their plumages until they fully molt.

Description and Identification

Golden-crowned Kinglets are harder to identify than most birds. Their small appearances conceal them in their densely wooded habitats. However, their high-pitch calls travel large distances and you can hear it in the quiet of the forests. Once in the vicinities of their calls, keep an eye out for vividly yellow and orange crowns fluttering about the tree-tops. These birds sometimes blend in with their surroundings, but their crowns can give them away through close observations.

Golden-crowned Kinglet Song

Nestlings make their first sounds after 2 days, a soft and barely audible “tseek”. Within a week, they begin their tsipping sounds. They make a “tsip” sound when their parents approach the nests and after they leave. After 2 weeks, they respond to the songs of other birds. By the time they are adults, they have a vast vocal range that is capable of making an array of complicated sounds. Their call notes are typically “tsee” sounds that they repeat 1-5 times in the same pitch. Their calls differ significantly from the chicks.

The primary song of adults is a series of ascending but uniform notes that each last for around 2 seconds. The complex versions of their song sounds like a “tsoo-tsoo-tsoo-tsoo-tsoo-tsoo-whip-lipalip” or a “tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee-teet-leetle” followed by a trill. They can start as simple songs and end in a musical warble that lasts up to 3 seconds. These songs often drop an octave or more in pitch. Variations may also occur in which the song becomes chattery and harsh, or more melodious.

Their other calls include the contact call, a thin, finely trilled, and threadlike “tsee, see see”, or a “ti ti”. This call highly resembles those of Brown Creepers and may be indistinguishable from them in many cases. They may also let out a short “tsu” while foraging or in flight. Another call they make is the alarm call. Which they typically make in alert to other birds in cases of intruders in their territory.

Golden-crowned Kinglet Size

Golden-crowned Kinglets are some of the smallest birds in the world, being 3.1–4.3 inches in length. They have short, rounded bodies and skinny tails, along with short wings and a wingspan of 5.5–7.5 inches. Golden-crowned Kinglets have relatively larger heads while their bills are short and thin to effectively glean small insects. They approximately weigh 0.1–0.3 ounces and are typically the same size as a Sparrow, or even smaller. These birds are smaller than Chickadees but larger than Hummingbirds.

Golden-crowned Kinglet Behavior

These birds rarely walk and generally take long hops on the ground while flicking their wings. When they eat, they hang upside down from small twigs sometimes as well. Their flight is quick and erratic, often flying extremely high in the air but not in direct paths. They may sometimes also hover when feeding on the ends of twigs.

These birds can also be very territorial during the breeding seasons. In case of an intruder in the territory, males begin singing aggressively if their territories have already been established. Males then chase the intruders, often flying within less than a meter of the intruder and emitting rapid series of “tsee” notes. Conflicts between them generally begin if the defender bows towards their opponent who reciprocates the action. They hop from limb to limb while ascending and descending up and down trees if neither of them retreats. They may also lock bills and tumble to the ground while beating their wings rapidly. Birds that give up first forfeit victory. However, they do not maintain these territorial behaviors during the winter. They are a mixed flock in their wintering grounds.

The breeding habits of these birds tell us that they practice serial monogamy. This means that each bird takes on a single mate during the breeding season. They do not repeat mates over the years. Males follow females closely during nest-building and egg-laying, or when she leaves the nest during incubation to feed. Females are also fed by the males while they incubate the eggs.

Golden-crowned Kinglet Diet

These birds are mainly insectivores. During the breeding seasons, they glean small, soft-bodied anthropods like spiders and their eggs from branch tips, under bark strips, and in tufts of conifer needles. Their insect prey includes springtails, grasshoppers, crickets, lice, bugs, lacewings, beetles, caddisflies, moths, butterflies, flies, bees, wasps, spiders, mites, and some mollusks. During the winters, they also eat small amounts of seeds due to scarce insect populations. They may find these seeds in brush piles and understory trees. Besides gleaning, they hover under leaves and peck at pine needles to capture prey under leaves and to Hawk for aerial insects. They forage the similar parts of the trees as Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Chickadees but may sometimes shift from where they are feeding to avoid competition with them.

Golden-crowned Kinglet Habitat

Golden-crowned Kinglets breed mainly in boreal or montane coniferous forests with an altitude of up to 11,000 feet. You can also find them nesting in spruce, fir, hemlock, deciduous and mixed forests, wooded bogs, conifer plantations, cottonwood-willow forests, and groves in parks and cemeteries. During migration seasons, they stop in a wide range of habitats at medium to high elevations, including coniferous and deciduous forests, old fields, parks, and backyards. They winter in a variety of coniferous and deciduous forests, old fields, bottomland hardwoods, swamps, riverside habitats, cities, and suburbs, but tend to prefer regions with an abundance of coniferous trees as their ideal wintering locations.

Range and Migration

Golden-crowned Kinglets breed throughout the southern provinces of Canada, ranging from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast. Migration seasons push them towards the vast majority of the United States, where they reach their wintering grounds that span virtually every single state. Portions of their populations also winter in parts of Northern Mexico. A minority of the flocks that breed along the Atlantic Coasts of Canada and the United States, and the Pacific Coasts of northern United States are permanent residents of their breeding habitats and do not migrate for the winter.

Golden-crowned Kinglet Lifecycle

Males defend their nesting territories and advertise themselves by singing, in hopes of attracting a female. Interested females scout the territories and respond with initiating copulation. They may have one or two broods in a single season. They have a clutch size of 8–9 eggs generally, but they can have up to 11 eggs on rarer occasions. These eggs generally form two layers for further insulation. The female is the sole incubator, but the male may feed the female as she incubates for about 14–15 days. Chicks are about bumblebee-sized when they hatch and are entirely helpless and naked except for a few tufts of down on the top of the head. The young ones leave the nest around 14–20 days after hatching.

Nesting

While details about which member of the pair selects the nest site are unclear, it is presumed that the final selection is done by the females. The site is typically high up, typically being placed up to 60 feet above the ground in the tops of conifers like balsam fir, white spruce, and black spruce. The nest is placed close to the trunk so that it can be protected from environmental elements by its overhanging needles. The construction of the nest is done by both males and females, taking around 4–6 days to finish. It is a deep, four-cornered cup-shaped nest that has inward-arching rims, either suspended by twigs or placed on a foundation of twigs. Materials are collected within 65 feet of the nest tree, and generally includes items like mosses, spiderweb, downy plant material, parts of insect cocoons, lichens, and strips of bark. The interiors are lined with finer pieces of similar materials, along with deer hair and feathers.

Anatomy of a Golden-crowned Kinglet

These Golden-crowned Kinglets are some of the smallest songbirds in the world. They have a grounded body, short wings, and skinny tails that stand out against their large heads and short, thin bills. These birds have a patch of orangish-yellow or bright yellow feathers on their crown, a distinct trait that makes them stand out in the surroundings that they otherwise camouflage in.

Final Thoughts

These hardy birds have survived through the harsh weathers of the pine forests for centuries now, but human interference has steadily declined their populations since 1966. Factors such as logging, forest fires, and other disturbances have had terrible effects on their breeding densities and led to an approximate decline by 75% of their populations. However, recent bird surveys have noticed that their populations have increased slightly in the eastern
portions of North America, a statistic that is generally attributed to spruce reforestation in the last few years.

These small and dainty birds are some of the oldest natural survivors on this planet, offering surprises to those who learn about them but also leaving them with numerous questions. Although there is still a lot yet to be learned about these fascinating birds, their populations need to remain stable in order for them to continue to thrive. While they continue to breed in fairly abundant populations, maybe you can catch sight of their blazing crowns if you venture into the coniferous wilderness during the winter seasons.

Ornithology

Bird Watching Academy & Camp Subscription Boxes

At the Bird Watching Academy & Camp we help kids, youth, and adults get excited and involved in bird watching. We have several monthly subscription boxes that you can subscribe to. Our monthly subscription boxes help kids, youth, and adults learn about birds, bird watching, and bird conservation.

Bird Watching Binoculars for IdentifyingGolden-crowned Kinglets

The most common types of bird watching binoculars for viewing Golden-crowned Kinglets are 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. Bird Watching Academy & Camp sells really nice 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. You can view and purchase them here.

Golden-crowned Kinglet Stickers

Stickers are a great way for you to display your love for bird watching and the Golden-crowned Kinglet. We sell a monthly subscription sticker pack. The sticker packs have 12 bird stickers. These sticker packs will help your kids learn new birds every month.

Bird Feeders ForGolden-crowned Kinglets

There are many types of bird feeders. Bird feeders are a great addition to your backyard. Bird feeders will increase the chances of attracting birds drastically. Both kids and adults will have a great time watching birds eat at these bird feeders. There are a wide variety of bird feeders on the market and it is important to find the best fit for you and your backyard.

Bird HousesForGolden-crowned Kinglets

There are many types of bird houses. Building a bird house is always fun but can be frustrating. Getting a bird house for kids to watch birds grow is always fun. If you spend a little extra money on bird houses, it will be well worth every penny and they’ll look great.