The Golden-crowned Kinglet is olive-green to gray above, pale breast, whitish eyebrow, black bill, short tail, two wing bars that are whitish, and a bright orange (solid yellow in female) crown patch bordered with yellow and black (black border in female). This bird is 3 1/2-3 1/4" in length (smaller than warblers) with a wingspread of 6 1/2-7".

The Golden-crowned Kinglet is named from the Latin word rex and Greek word satrapes meaning a king wearing a golden crown.

These birds generally associate in groups, and feed in company with the titmice, nuthatches, and Brown Creepers, perambulating the tops of trees and bushes, sometimes in the very depth of the forests or the most dismal swamps, while at other times they approach the plantations, and enter the gardens and yards. Their movements are always extremely lively and playful. They follow minute insects on the wing, seize them among the leaves of the pines, or search for the larvae in the chinks of the branches. Like the titmice they are seen hanging to the extremities of twigs and bunches of leaves, sometimes fluttering in the air in front of them, and are always occupied.


Song:

The song of the Golden-crowned Kinglet is seldom heard. When heard, it's a series of high pitched, ascending see-see-see and ends with dropping similar notes, which are louder and harsher.


Range:

Southern Alaska to central Canada to west North and South Carolina. Winters south to Florida and the Gulf Coast.


Courtship/Nesting/Eggs:

Both mated pairs of Golden-crowned Kinglets, build a globular nest, attached to twigs of an evergreen, of moss, lichens and spider webs, lined with feathers, fur, and soft bark. The entrace to the nest is from the top and is anywhere from 5-60 feet above ground. Throughout the months of April through July, as many as 9 eggs are laid. The eggs are off white to cream colored and speckled with brown. The eggs take anywhere from 14-15 days to hatch. The young do not acquire the bright crowns of their parents until late summer.


Natural Feeding Habits:

This bird diet is mostly insects and their eggs such as scale insects, aphids, and bark beetles which they find in twigs, barks, evergreens and bushes. In winter, they socialize and roam with flocks of chickadees, brown creepers and woodpeckers instead of migrating south.


Other Names:

Other names for the Golden-crowned Kinglet is Golden-crested Kinglet and Flamecrest.