WINTER BACKYARD BIRDS (U.S. AND CANADA)

Golden-Crowned Kinglet

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Regulus Satrapa

Adults have olive-gray upperparts, white underparts, and short tails. They have white wing bars, a black stripe through the eyes and a yellow crown surrounded by black.

Males have an orange patch in the middle of its yellow crown. The crowns in both sexes are bordered by a black band of feathers.

Juveniles look like messy adults, they have a browner back and without the yellow crown.

BILL: small and thin.

SIZE: small, measuring about 3.1 to 4.3 inches in length.

WEIGHT: average weight around 5.6 grams, ranging from 4 - 7.8 grams.

COLOR: olive-gray, white, black, brown, orange and yellow.

Insects, insect eggs and spiders and eat small amounts of seeds as well.

Coniferous forests, mixed coniferous and deciduous forests as well.

North America, Canada, Northeastern and Western United States, Mexico and Central America.

Their song begins with 'tse-tse-tse' followed by a rapid trill.

NEST: Both male and female build a cup-shaped nest with inward-arching rims, either suspended by or resting on twigs. It is made up of many materials, including twigs, moss, feathers, dead grass, and spider webs.

EGGS: 3 - 11 white or creamy, speckled with pale brown and lilac eggs.

INCUBATION: 15 days, female.

NESTLING PHASE: 16 -19 days.

They are very active when foraging, hopping quickly among branches, hanging upside down from the tips of branches most of the time. They also occasionally hover as they pick insects from foliage.