Ruby Crowned Kinglet

The Ruby Crowned Kinglets have caught the fancy of bird watchers and natu-ralists because of their little size and huge hearts. They stand about 4½ inches long from bill to tail and the smallest birds besides the Ruby throated hummingbird native to New England. Kinglets are small, and occupy some of the most alien surroundings in Northern New England. Their com-bination of size and vigor seems to excite the imagination of the local birders.

The first thing bird watchers notice about the Ruby Crowned Kinglet is its astonishing loud call coming from the densest, darkest stand of softwood trees nearby. Then the bird might appear, always moving, roosting in the top of a fir tree. The little bird constant-ly bobs its tail and flutters its wings. Olive and yellow on top and having a distinct set of black and white wing stripes, a diminutive male may show his ruby crown as he leans back again with that big snickering and sharp song.

These hardy little birds breed from Alaska to Newfoundland. The Ruby Crowned Kinglets stay as one of the last birds to leave the region in the winter and one of the first to return in the spring. In the winter, the kinglets migrate south until they reach areas where temperatures seldom drop below 25 degrees F, and some over winter on the coast of Southern New England.

During the spring and summer months, Ruby Crowned Kinglets occupy spruce swamps, mixed stands of fir and thick forest edges. This little kinglet builds its cup shapd nests on the shaggy bows of coniferous trees. The trees not only serve as nest sites but provide the insects that the birds need to satisfy their summer diet.

During the spring and summer, Ruby Crowned Kinglets feed on insects like spiders, ants, flies, moths, wasps and a variety of insect eggs at the tips of limbs and among the needles of the trees. In the winter their diet consists of some fruit like elderberries, plant stems and weed seeds that they find in the open woods. The birds rely on conifers while they breed and spend the summer months in their northern range.

Outdoor people realize the significance of keeping thick, contin-uous forests of softwoods to serve as deer wintering areas during the hard winter seasons. The thick needles shelter the deer from the ice cold winds and collecting of deep snow that assist predators. Also without the protection of softwood stands the deer could suffer the affects of hypothermia. The new growth and blooms provide forage during the hard weather seasons. Without these stands, the deer popu-lation would likely decrease in the winter months.

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