Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Regulus calendula
STANFORD LOCATIONS:

Fairly common migrant and winter resident in various habitats throughout campus.
 
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs
Mating System
Dev.
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
Foraging
Strategy
MF
I: 12? DAYS
ALTRICIAL
15 feet - 30 feet
(2 feet - 100 feet)
F?
7-9
(5-11)
MONOG
F: 12? DAYS
MF
TREE SAP
BERRIES
HOVER &
GLEAN
HAWKS

BREEDING: Coniferous and coniferous-deciduous forests. ? broods.
DISPLAYS: Male displays with red crest erect, singing a "wheezy, subdued song."
NEST: Hung from limb, open at top with cavity deep enough to conceal incubating bird; of moss, lichen, down, twigs, dead leaves, lined with fine materials.
EGGS: Creamy white to muddy cream, variably spotted with brown, usu wreathed. 0.5" (14 mm).
DIET: Includes spiders; few seeds.
CONSERVATION: Winters s to w Guatemala. Rare cowbird host.
NOTES: Winter studies suggest that size of N.A. breeding populations may be limited by conditions experienced during the winter. Forms loose, mixed-species winter flocks with titmice, nuthatches, Brown Creepers, Golden-crowned Kinglets, and warblers.
ESSAYS: Bird Guilds; Mixed-Species Flocking; Population Dynamics.
REFERENCES: Laurenzi et al., 1982.

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Except for Stanford Locations, 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).