++ + TOLEDO MAGAZINE toledoblade.com THE BLADE, TOLEDO, OHIO SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2010 SECTION B, PAGE 6

THE OUTDOORS PAGE The amazing crowned

PAINTING BY EVAN BARBOUR COURTESEY OF CORNELL ORNITHOLOGY LAB Kinglets Ruby and Golden are each ‘one tough little bird’

By STEVE POLLICK and JEFF BASTING

ail to the “little kings,” Regulus The biologist notes: “Kinglets are as close PHOTO BY GEORGE SYDLOWSKI satrapa and Regulus calendula — to an annual bird as any bird gets.” He strug- Kinglets’ thin voices Hthe golden-crowned kinglet and gled through several Maine winters, working are barely audible to ruby-crowned kinglet, respectively. from a cabin retreat, to discover what possi- the human ear. Such a royal salute for these, among the ti- ble insects could feed kinglets in the deadly niest of perching birds, is well-earned, espe- cold, sometimes to minus-30 degrees. cially when considering the slightly smaller He and his students ultimately found of the two cousins, the golden-crowned, that the commonly held food, springtails or and how it manages to survive a winter in “snow fleas,” indeed were not kinglet food. the north. Instead they isolated the real meal deal — an Only some hummingbirds are smaller “inchworm,” a caterpillar of the one-spotted than kinglets, which weigh only as much as Variant moth, a morsel so tiny it almost gets two pennies and stretch to just four inches lost amid fallen spruce needles. and a tad. Without their fluff of feathers, the “They are constantly feeding [in winter] end of your thumb would cover their bodies to survive the next hour, the next day,” said to the tips of the tiny beaks. Toledo’s Mr. Sawvel. Such diminutive size augers against sur- “I look at a golden-crowned kinglet — a vival in the harsh conditions of northern tiny little bird. You see it on a cold winter’s winters, yet the golden-crowned defies the day and you wonder, ‘how the heck can this Kinglets weigh about as much as two pennies, or 5 to 6 grams, and are among the odds — if it does everything right. Its ruby- bird survive?’ ” adds Tom Kemp, a noted smallest birds. They must eat three times their weight daily to survive frigid winter crowned cousin copes with winter by mi- birder-naturalist from Bowling Green. nights. A kinglet never is still for more than a second. They are nonstop foragers and grating to the southern United States and Mr. Kemp is credited with discovering cannot go more than one or two hours without food in daytime in winter without Mexico, as do some golden-crowned king- in 1991 the first reported golden-crowned risking starvation or freezing to death. The golden-crowned kinglet weighs about lets. But those that choose to stay have their kinglet nest in Ohio, in a Norway spruce half as much as a chickadee, but relative to body size, it puts on twice as much fat work cut out for them. stand in the Maumee State Forest in west- as a chickadee. Their body temperature is 111 degrees Fahrenheit, 5 to 7 degrees Most notably, they have to eat — three ern Lucas County. The first breeding pair re- warmer than most birds. times their body-weight every day — and ported in Ohio was in Columbiana County they are insect-eaters. Throughout the win- in 1962-63. RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET ter they are practically a bite or two away “We think at least a few of them nest here CREATURE COMPARISON GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET from death all the time. every year. It’s a matter of going out and “I think it’s amazing that such a tiny bird, finding them.” That, it turns out, is not a which eats insects, can win- walk in the park, so to say. IN-FLIGHT ter in such northerly lati- Golden-crowned kinglets GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET tudes,” said John Sawvel, a They defy the odds and typically nest 50 feet up in local naturalist and birder. ‘the laws of physics, and a spruce, weaving a base- “In the Toledo area, gold- ball-sized, cuplike nest White wing en-crowned kinglets are a prove that the fabulous is that is tucked into the bars three-season bird.” bottom side of a spruce Crown Mr. Sawvel is program co- possible. limb close to the trunk. ordinator for the Ohio Young ’ Their ruby-crowned Bernd Heinrich, University of Vermont Birders Club, an arm of the cousins are not known PHOTO BY P.J. MAESTAS PHOTO BY FRANK RIPP Oak Harbor-based Black to nest here. The golden- O
White stripe above O
White eye ring Swamp Bird Observatory. He has compiled crowned nesting range has edged south eye; paler underparts. instead of white stripe the status report on the golden-crowned from northern boreal forests, Mr. Kemp said, over eye; underparts are kinglet for the Ohio Winter Bird Atlas. Notched tail Female (above) and because of expanded ornamental plantings O

darker. “They are common during spring and fall of spruce. juvenilles have yellow migrations, and they usually are found in A leader in the Grand Rapids-Waterville crown patch with black O

Only males (above) winter. Summer nesters are rare in our area. and Toledo Area Christmas bird counts, the border. have concealed red But this common bird is easily overlooked naturalist notes that the golden-crowned al- crown patch that flashes O

Male has orange because of its tiny size; fast, acrobatic move- most always is one of the last species sight- when the bird is excited ments, and weak, high-pitched song. ed on a count-day, for of necessity they feed crown patch with yellow or feeding. and black border. “Listening for its ‘see-see-see’ call note right until dark. “They’re neat, hardy little probably is the best way to locate it. Hearing birds. They’re tough.” IN-FLIGHT BRAIN MATTERS the ‘see-see-see’ of a golden-crowned king- How kinglets survive the winter night is RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET A kinglet, being let in February is a fine sighting.” Part of the another question that challenges field re- small, does not have reason for that is that a kinglet in February is searchers such as Mr. Heinrich. For one White wing a large brain. But a very hardy and lucky survivor. thing, they apparently huddle in small Many of its overwintering brethren no groups for warmth, in whatever cozy little on a body-weight bars doubt have succumbed to insufficient food cocoon of cover they can find at dark. But basis, its brain is Crown or exposure. Bernd Heinrich, a University much remains to be learned about this massive, accounting of Vermont biologist who has long studied feisty little bird. for 6.8 percent of its kinglets in winter, notes that the species los- The New England biologist devotes no weight. In contrast, es 87 percent of its population every year. less than three chapters of Winter World to a human brain ac- Only highly evolved and successful re- the golden-crowned and never runs short of counts for just 1.9 production — involving stacked eggs in a wonder for them: percent of body weight. A large brain requires a lot of baseball-sized nest and rapid renesting for “When I’m in the warmth of my cabin energy, which a kinglet has none to spare in winter. a second crop of young — saves the species and hear gusts of wind outside that moan The human brain accounts for 20 per cent of the Notched tail by offsetting the mammoth losses. through the woods and shake my cabin on a body’s energy demand. Given relative brain size, the “Given its minute, two-penny weight [5 to 6 wintry night, I will continue to marvel at and kinglet’s energy requirements could be three times a grams], how such an individual could survive wonder how the little featherpuffs are faring. human’s. One theory is that the larger brain helps the the energy crunch on a cold, 16-hour-long They defy the odds and the laws of physics, kinglet adapt quickly to find different food sources. winter night is an unimaginable marvel from and prove that the fabulous is possible.” our human perspective — it defies physics and physiology,” Mr. Heinrich wrote in his fas- Contact Steve Pollick at: cinating, beautifully written 2003 book, Win- [email protected] SIZE COMPARISON ter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival. or 419-724-6068. Holding a kinglet has been Kinglets are weak fliers because of decribed as heavy coats that provide insulation. akin to hold- They have 4.5 times more feather mass ing a ping pong committed to insulation than to flight. ball in terms of It is important for flocks to maintain relative size and close contact so they can huddle for weight. warmth at night.

PHOTO BY JULIE SHIELDCASTLE

GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET

PAINTING BY EVAN BARBOUR

PHOTO BY GEORGE SYDLOWSKI Summer range Year-round Winter range

OURCES: ‘WINTER WORLD: THE INGENUITY OF ANIMAL SURVIVAL,’ BY BERND HEINRICH; ‘BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA,’ SMITHSONIAN; ‘BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA,’ AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY; WWW.BIRDS.CORNELL.EDU + +

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