Golden-crowned Kinglet

Regulus satrapa Lichtenstein

 

 

 

Field Guide IDs:
NG-338; G-252; PE-216; PW-pl 49; AE-pl 458; AW-pl 509; AM(Ill)-36


Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs &
Mating System
Dev. &
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
..
Foraging
Strategy
F
I: 14-15 DAYS
ALTRICIAL
4 feet - 60 feet
F
8-9
(5-11)
MONOG
F: 14-19 DAYS
MF
TREE SAP
FRUIT
HOVER &
GLEAN
HAWKS

BREEDING:

Open coniferous forest. 2 broods.

DISPLAYS:

Courtship feeding. Cop on or near nest.

NEST:

Near trunk, usu hung from branches; open at top with oblong cavity, of moss, lichen, spider web, plant down, dead leaves, lined with fine materials. Built in ca. 5 days.

EGGS:

Creamy white to muddy cream, variably spotted with browns, usu wreathed. 0.5" (14 mm).

DIET:

Includes spiders; some fruit, seeds. Young fed only insects, reject spiders. Also gleans from bark.

CONSERVATION:

Winters s to Guatemala. Blue List 1980-81, Special Concern 1982, Local Concern 1986; numbers in most regions appear to have recovered from earlier decline. Rare cowbird host.

NOTES:

Adults very tame at nest. Eggs are crowded into two layers in nest. Male occ feeds incubating female. Second clutch often as large as first. Flicks wings when moving amongst foliage. Winters in mixed-species flocks with chickadees, Brown Creepers, small woodpeckers.

STANFORD. NOTES:

ESSAYS:

Blue List; Mixed-Species Flocking; Variation in Clutch Sizes; Courtship Feeding; Incubation: Heating Eggs.

REFERENCES:

Galati and Galati, 1985.

Except for Stanford Notes, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).