This week I am sharing a few photos of a female Ruby-Crowned Kinglet that I spotted near the end of September.
Ruby-Crowned Kinglets are very small birds, smaller than chickadees, that usually hang about in coniferous trees during breeding season since this is where they make their nests. They are fast and busy as they flit about in the high branches looking for insects. They are not one to sit still which can make them difficult to photograph.
Despite their small size they have an enormous voice. Their song is one of the loudest in the spring forest as males sing to attract females and establish territory. The unique song of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet can act like a beacon to hone in on their location.
Males generally keep their bright red crown under wraps unless they are excited by a prospective mate, a predator, or a rival male in his territory. Without seeing the red crown it is difficult to distinguish between male and female birds.
Female birds lay a huge clutch of eggs relative to their size, up to 12 in a single nest! While the eggs themselves weigh only about half a gram, an entire clutch can weigh as much as the female herself! To accommodate all those baby birds, the female takes 5 days to build a globe-shaped nest that can expand to meet the needs of the growing birds. Both the male and female rear the nestlings until they fledge as well as maintain their nest daily to keep it from disintegrating.
The oldest known Ruby-crowned Kinglet was a female, and at least 4 years, 7 months old, when she was recaptured and re-released during banding operations in California in 2007. She had been banded in the same state in 2003.