TAKE HEART. WINTER AND ITS BIRDS WILL COME

Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Photo Courtesy, Sharon Milligan

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             This article was published in December, 1990

If you want for feeder activity, rest assured you are not alone. I was in Jackson early this week and the complaints are the same there. This winter (1990, but it applies to 2016) has been unseasonably warm. True, after the last front, there were a couple of days when it looked as if activity would pick up, but it didn't last. I could be run out of town for saying this, but what we really need are one, two or even three strong Canadian or Arctic cold fronts, something to set winter and winter birding in motion.

I have no doubt that winter will come, and with it the birds that take us to the cleaners every year, but for now, all we dedicated feeder watchers can do is wait and count the bird-seed money we're saving.

Meanwhile, here's a fanfare for a common bird - the Ruby-crowned Kinglet. In my learning days, it took me months to identify it, even though it put in numerous appearances in the yard, almost close enough to touch.

There is no reason to think that your yard, assuming you have a few trees and bushes, is without a requisite kinglet. At about 3 1/2 inches in size, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet is one of the smallest birds in North America. It is widespread here in winter, and it usually makes its presence known by its husky call notes "ji-dit, ji-dit, ji-dit" (ad infinitum).

In his field guides, Roger Tory Peterson calls the kinglet "a tiny, stub-tailed birdlet" That says a lot. It is greenish above, dingy yellowish below. It has whitish wing-bars, and broken white eye-rings surrounding what look like staring, beady eyes. The male has a bright red crown patch, which is often concealed. The female, of course, lacks this adornment.

This kinglet gives the impression of being agitated. It moves above in the foliage with constantly-flicking wings. It is often found quite low, especially on very cold days. It responds well to "pssshing", and the male, when responding sometimes raises its scarlet crown patch.

When I was a beginning birder I was loathe to trust myself when it came to identifying certain birds. I would see the female or immatures (for reasons that have little to do with frustrating potential birders, there are always, or so it seems, more females and immatures than there are obvious adult males). I withheld identification until I finally saw a male raising its crown feathers. Now, it seems so easy. The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is so identifiable for so many reasons: the constant "je-dit" call, the flicking movements in the foliage, the tiny-ness of it.

One of the nice things about this kinglet is that, even though it is not what we'd consider a feeder bird, it will come for sunflower hearts, suet mixtures or peanut butter balls. It seems to like being where there are other birds. It has become something of a habit to look and listen for the little sprite when titmice and chickadees pay a visit.

Out in the woodlands, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet is one of our commonest wintering species and is much more evident that its congener, the Golden-crowned Kinglet (another small guy, but more colorful and more readily identifiable). The former seems more inclined to use a variety of habitats while the Golden-crowned shows a preference for conifers and mixed woodlands.

Before the Ruby-crowned Kinglet leaves our neck of the woods, in April (it nests far to the north in Canada and the very northern U.S., as well as in the high mountains farther south), it tests its vocal chords to our delight. The song is remarkably varied and musical, and louder than one would expect of a small singer.

I hope you see a kinglet, and that you will know what it is when you see or hear it.