The golden-crowned kinglet is a very small songbird. Adults are olive-gray on the upperparts with white underparts, with thin bills and short tails. They have white wing bars, a black stripe through the eyes and a yellow crown surrounded by black. The adult male has an orange patch in the middle of the yellow crown.
Similar species: Perching Birds
By Thibaud Aronson
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Uploaded Dec 10, 2018. Captured Dec 9, 2018 14:07 in Lusitania Field, 615 Concord Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
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"The Golden-Crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa) is one of the smallest songbirds in North America. It has a breeding range stretching from the northern Appalachians to southern Alaska and a non-breeding range as far south as Florida and Mexico.
It can be found in a variety of habitats throughout the year but has a preference for old growth coniferous and mixed forests during the breeding season. It primarily feeds on soft-bodied arthropods like crickets, caterpillars, beetles, spiders, and bark lice--but it has also been known to eat insect eggs. Typically remaining hidden within the forest canopy, the Golden-Crowned Kinglet hops from branch to branch to glean meals from branch tips, conifer needles, and bark with its short, thin bill.
There is limited information on the subject of breeding, but it is thought that this species participates in serial monogamy, forming a new pair bond every breeding season. Nests are woven together with pieces of leaves, bark, lichens, and other forest debris, and both the female and male participate in nest-building and the feeding of nestlings. The male acts as the defender of the nest and will display territoriality through song and the flicking of his wings and tail.
The Golden-Crowned Kinglet is listed as a "Species of Least Concern," but select populations still face threats from logging operations and human expansion." Posted 6 years ago