Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (Corthylio calendula) lives in coniferous forests across Throughout North America. It feeds on insects and spiders. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Fascinating facts about the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
- The ruby-crowned kinglet can lay up to twelve eggs, the largest clutch recorded for any North American passerine of its tiny size. It builds a cup-shaped nest that may hang from a branch or be placed on a tree limb, and the nest is usually well concealed. This prolific breeding takes place in spruce-fir forests of northern and mountainous regions across the United States and Canada, providing ample cover for the many hatchlings.
- The ruby-crowned kinglet was reassigned from Regulus to the separate genus Corthylio in 2021, reflecting its larger size, strongly red crest, and the absence of black crown stripes, as well as its distinctive vocal repertoire.
- Despite weighing only five to ten grams, the ruby-crowned kinglet produces a song that is unusually loud and intricate. Its vocalisation consists of three parts: a series of high-pitched notes, two to five low trills, and a repeated three-note galloping phrase. Only males sing the galloping section, while females use a shortened version, and individual birds often vary which parts they include in each performance.
- When a predator approaches, the ruby-crowned kinglet performs a dramatic broken-wing act, feigning injury to lure the threat away from its offspring. The distraction works because its nest is a well-concealed hanging cup of downy plant material and feathers, often suspended from a conifer branch. After the predator is drawn off, the bird returns and aggressively mob-bids the intruder, whether cat, squirrel or even a human, defending the nest fearlessly.
- One of the three recognised subspecies, C. obscurus, lived only on Guadalupe Island off north-western Mexico. The last documented sighting of this bird was in 1953, and since then no individuals have been recorded. Because of this it is now listed as extinct, making it the only subspecies of the ruby-crowned kinglet to disappear.
Sources
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At a glance
RangeThroughout North America
HabitatConiferous forests
DietInsects and spiders
About the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
In the lush canopies of North America's woodlands, the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet flits with irrepressible energy, its tiny form a whirlwind of olive-green and white feathers as it darts between branches with an air of restless curiosity. With each twitch of its wing, the kinglet's eponymous ruby crown flashes like a burst of fiery sunlight, a fleeting glimpse of splendor that hints at the bird's fiercely territorial nature. As it forages for insects with precision and speed, the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet embodies the very essence of life in the fast lane, its tiny heart beating at a furious pace that belies its delicate appearance.
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