The Chase is Equal to the Catch

greatest challenge for us, it is the Golden-crowned Kinglet. Imagine a bird weighing in at 5.5 grams, half the weight of a chickadee, dancing at hyper speeds, right side up, backwards, upside down, angled 45 degrees left or right, or dangling by a single toe on a spruce branch, with each movement occurring less than a second from the previous one. The kinglet is truly an acrobat. Throw in the boughs and branch fragments getting in the way all the while considering the light available and having finger speed to focus the lens “on time”, one might consider this as a new Olympic sport. And yes, it is absolutely worth the effort to enjoy every second of the chase.
“Our” kinglet has been hanging out with the boreal and black-capped chickadees at Elliston Park. Finding the chickadees first is a key to possibly seeing this petite songbird. Blessed with the ideal thin bill for catching insects or grasping insect eggs and spiders on branches, as well as the nooks and crannies in conifer bark, the kinglet expends significant energy foraging for food. Using its short wings to flutter in between the myriad of twigs and branches, the kinglet is suited to find those tiniest of food sources. Adult males and females look nearly identical. The one exception is addition of orange in the crown of the male, visible during mating season. The coloration of the head is quite fetching. Black and white striping on the face are accentuated by the golden crown. Normally the crown feathers are flat and not seen, unless they are flashed when the male is excited.
Making Canada home for the creation of the next kinglet generation, kinglets will use conifer trees to construct their nests at tree heights up to 18 metres (60 feet). Often having two broods in a season, the young are about the size of bumblebees at birth. Male kinglets seek out caterpillars and virtually every insect to provide food for the female who is incubating the eggs. The males will also defend the nest until the second brood has the ability to fly.
Although Ruby-crowned kinglets will migrate to the United States to overwinter, Golden-crowned kinglets will tough it out in Canada’s winters. This little songbird can handle temperatures in the -40C range. Kinglets do have a thick plumage for insulation, a high metabolism that keeps their body temperature near 44C (111 F), and forage for the dormant caterpillars resident in spruce trees to provide nourishment. In extreme cold, several kinglets will huddle together, puff out their feathers or hide in old squirrel nests. Daytime feeding frenzies enable kinglets to put on some fat in order to survive the cold nights. Having two broods per year helps the species to recover from the high mortality rate experienced in cold weather snaps.
For us, this hardy Canadian bird, often hard to spot unless one hears its three note high pitched call or is nearby a group of chickadees, is one wonder in the world of nature. To find, watch and photograph in the late fall and winter makes the chase as good as the catch.