The Golden-crowned Kinglet is one of the smallest birds in Michigan and one of the toughest, a restless olive mite of a creature that flicks constantly through conifer branches with a bright yellow (or, in males, orange-centered) crown flashing on its head. Weighing about as much as two pennies, it survives northern winters that would kill most birds its size, foraging for dormant insects and their eggs even in bitter cold.
It breeds in the spruce and fir forests of northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, then spreads across the whole state as a migrant and winter resident, often traveling with chickadee and creeper flocks. Its thin, ascending "tsee-tsee-tsee" calls are so high that they slip past many ears, but a patient watcher near a stand of evergreens in winter will often find several working the branches together.
Almost purely insectivorous, gleaning tiny insects, springtails, spiders, and especially insect eggs from twigs and needles year-round. In winter it survives on dormant arthropods hidden in bark and foliage, sometimes hovering to pluck prey from the tips of branches.
Golden-crowned Kinglets forage almost nonstop for dormant insects and eggs, huddle together at night to share warmth, and can enter a state of controlled heat conservation. Even so, harsh winters take a heavy toll on the population.
The Golden-crowned has a black-and-yellow (or orange) striped crown and a plain face with a white eyebrow. The Ruby-crowned lacks the head stripes, shows a bold white eye-ring, and only occasionally flashes its hidden red crown patch.
Coniferous and mixed woods, especially spruce, fir, and pine. In winter watch mixed feeding flocks of chickadees and creepers, which kinglets frequently join.
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