Montana Field Guide

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Regulus calendula

Very small greenish songbird; 9-11 cm, 5.0-9.7 g. Both sexes olive green-gray on upperparts with 2 strong white wing-bars and broken, white eye-ring. Underparts dusky white. Male has scarlet crown patch, generally concealed (may also be orange, yellow, or absent). Female identical to male but lacks crown patch. Spring birds consistently duller than fall birds. (Ingold, J. L. and Wallace, G. E. The Birds of North America, No. 119, 1994).

Montana Range

In the Bozeman area, normal migration periods are April 25 to May 10 and September 10 to October 5, with no peak dates.

In the west, nests in spruce-fir, lodgepole pine and Douglas-fir forests. Spring and fall migration includes a broad range of habitats: coniferous and deciduous forests, floodplain forests, willow shrubs, abandoned homesteads in rangeland, old fields, and suburban yards (Ingold and Wallace 1994).

Winter: spiders and their eggs, a variety of insects and their eggs, psuedoscorpions, small amounts of fruit, seeds and other vegetable matter. Breeding season: same as winter except no vegetable matter eaten (Ingold and Wallace 1994).

Territory sizes of 15.4 to 19.0 acres in Douglas fir forests in western Montana have been reported.

Nest globular or elongated, usually pensile but may be placed on limb. In all cases nests protected from above by overhanging foliage. Eggs ovate to oval or rounded oval; pure white, drab or buffy white and spotted or speckled. Lays the largest clutch of any North American passerine for its size - up to 12 eggs. (Ingold and Wallace 1994). Nests are recorded from the 2nd week of June through the 3rd week of July. Nesting dates near Fortine range from May 15 to July 15.