Ruby-crowned Kinglet

The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is a tiny, energetic songbird that breeds in northern and montane conifer forests and winters across a broad swath of the United States and Mexico. Its feathers are a plain olive-gray overall, with pale wing bars and a bold white eye-ring, and males carry a small, usually concealed ruby-red patch on the crown that is only raised and visible during territorial displays or excitement.

Size and Shape

Feathers are extremely small and narrow, among the tiniest of regularly encountered songbird feathers apart from hummingbirds, reflecting the kinglet's very small body size.

Color and Pattern

• Body feathers: plain olive-gray, unstreaked
• Wing feathers: two pale wing bars, with a small black bar behind the upper one
• Male crown feathers: a small, concealed ruby-red patch, often not visible unless the bird is excited
• No color pattern on the tail

Distinguishing from Similar Species

Ruby-crowned Kinglet feathers are best told from the similarly tiny Golden-crowned Kinglet by the lack of an obvious, always-visible crown stripe; the ruby-red male crown patch is typically hidden, unlike the Golden-crowned Kinglet's bold, constantly visible orange-and-yellow crown stripe bordered in black.

Adult males have a small ruby-red crown patch usually concealed by surrounding olive-gray feathers, raised only during excitement or aggressive display; females lack any crown color entirely. Both sexes otherwise share the same plain olive-gray body with pale wing bars and a white eye-ring. Juveniles resemble adult females. Adults undergo a complete molt after breeding, in late summer.

Ruby-crowned Kinglets breed in coniferous forests across Canada, Alaska, and higher elevations of the western United States, and winter across the southern and coastal United States, Mexico, and Central America. The species is migratory and can be found in a wide range of shrubby and wooded habitats during migration and winter, often foraging alongside chickadees and other small songbirds.

This kinglet forages actively for small insects and spiders, constantly flicking its wings while gleaning from foliage and occasionally hovering briefly to pick prey from leaf tips. It builds a small, well-insulated hanging cup nest high in conifers. Its song is surprisingly loud and complex for such a tiny bird, beginning with thin high notes and dropping into a chattering warble, and its call is a scolding, husky "je-dit" often given in a rapid series.