For the birds: Kinglets, Kingbirds, Kingfishers

Golden-crowned Kinglet male (note orange in center of gold)
by Louis Kreemer. Kinglets have cute yellow feet

By Christine Southwick

Martin Luther King Day is the eighteenth of January this year, so I thought that I would write about birds in Washington that have the word “king” as part of their names.

Washington has Golden-crowned Kinglets, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Western Kingbirds, Eastern Kingbirds, and Belted Kingfishers.

                   [World-wide there are 115 birds with “king” in their names;
                     zero birds have “queen” in their names….just sayin’]

Female Kingfisher by Max Warner
(male does not have rufus on breast)

I decided on Golden-crowned Kinglets since they can frequently be seen all year in Washington, especially here in the winter-time. The Belted Kingfisher also is here year round, but few backyards have large enough streams to support a Kingfisher.

Golden-crowned Kinglets are nimble-moving, wing-flicking little birds that, in the summertime, stay up in the tops of heavily canopied spruce and fir coniferous forests, making them hard to see, and their high thin call-notes and song can be hard to hear. They often hover while plucking tiny insects from conifer needle clusters.

Male Ruby-crowned Kinglet  by Kellie Sagen
(female does not have the ruby center)

Their nests, with up to eleven eggs, are usually 50 feet up, and hidden under overhanging branches near the trunk. Most breed in the boreal forests of Canada, but suitably dense and high forests here in Washington will have breeding kinglets. Golden-crowned Kinglets can be found from 10,000 feet elevation down to sea level in the right habitat. They have been known to survive -40F degree nights, sometimes huddling together for warmth.

Some Golden-crowned Kinglets migrate as far as Mexico; some are local residents, and some go further north than others, so the kinglets that you see in the winter may not be the same ones you see in the summer.

Eastern Kingbird by Jane Hadley
 (note white edge on tail)

In the wintertime Golden-crowned Kinglets are easier to see when they hunt low in the trees moving within mixed flocks while searching for the many tiny insects, spiders, and insect eggs found nearer the ground during cold temperatures. Sometimes these kinglets will even land on the ground.

Winter-time is when we most often notice Golden-crowned Kinglets.

Updated to correct photographer name to Louis Kreemer 01-11-2016