Overview

Ruby-crowned Kinglet: Medium kinglet, olive-green upperparts and gray-washed, pale yellow underparts. Head has inconspicuous tuft of red crown feathers, white spectacles. Wings are dark with two white bars. Tail is slightly notched and has white edges. Weak fluttering flight on shallow wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet: Breeds from Alaska east across Canada to Newfoundland, south to southern California and New Mexico in the west, and to the Great Lakes region and northern New England in the east. Spends winters south from southern British Columbia and California across the southern tier of states to southern New England. Preferred habitats include coniferous and deciduous forests.

Breeding and Nesting

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet: Five to eleven creamy white eggs splotched with brown or gray are laid in a nest suspended from twigs below a sheltering and concealing horizontal branch. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet: Diet consists of insects, insect eggs, fruits, and seeds; forages by gleaning tree trunks, branches, and dense foliage.

Readily Eats

Suet

Vocalization

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet: Song is a series of high-pitched "tsee, tsee" notes, followed by several "tew" notes, followed by a three-note trill of "liberty-liberty-liberty." Calls include an emphatic "je-ditt" and "cack-cack."

Similar Species

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet: Golden-crowned Kinglet has a white stripe above the eye, orange crown patch (male), and paler underparts. Hutton's Vireo is larger, stockier, and has a stouter bill.