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Ruby-crowned Kinglet | Corthylio calendula
Roodkroonhaantje | Reyezuelo de moño rojo
The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is one of the smallest songbirds to reach the Caribbean. It is a North American migrant that winters mainly in the southern United States and Mexico; the north-west of the Caribbean lies on the edge of that winter range. Since 2021 the species has been placed in its own genus, Corthylio, apart from the Old World kinglets.
Voice
In winter mainly a dry, short jidit or chit-chit, often given twice. The loud song, a series of high notes followed by a rolling, repeated phrase, is rarely heard in the region, sometimes in spring.
Recording: Richard E. Webster — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
9–11 cm, round and short-tailed, with a thin, pointed bill. Upperparts grey-green to olive-green, underparts dull olive-buff. A white eye-ring, broken above and below, and two white wingbars, the lower one with a dark band behind it. Males have a scarlet crown patch that is usually hidden and shown only when excited; females lack it. The bird moves restlessly and constantly flicks its wings.
Confusion species
Cuban Vireo Vireo gundlachii is larger and more heavily built, with a thicker bill, pale spectacles and calmer behaviour. White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus has yellow spectacles and a white iris. Orange-crowned Warbler Leiothlypis celata has no wingbars and no eye-ring. The nervous wing-flicking is a good feature of the kinglet.
Habitat
In the region mainly in pine forest and in dry forest, coastal woodland and coastal scrub, sometimes in gardens with trees. It forages actively in the canopy and shrubs for small insects and spiders, sometimes hovering briefly at a leaf. It often joins mixed flocks of wintering warblers.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Scarce winter visitor to the northern Bahamas, such as Grand Bahama, Abaco, Andros and New Providence, and rare in Cuba, mainly in the west. Vagrant to the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. It breeds in the coniferous forests of Alaska, Canada and the western United States and winters from the United States to Mexico and northern Central America.
- Winter visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Best looked for in the pine forests of Grand Bahama and Abaco between November and March, preferably in mixed warbler flocks. The dry call and wing-flicking give the bird away sooner than its plumage.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The population is large and increasing according to North American surveys. In the Caribbean the species is scarce.
Scientific name
Corthylio calendula | (Linnaeus, 1766) (GBIF: Regulus calendula)
Linnaeus described the species in 1766 as Motacilla Calendula; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Corthylio was introduced in 1853 by Cabanis. Corthylio comes from Greek korthulos, a small wren-like bird mentioned by the lexicographer Hesychius of Alexandria. calendula is of uncertain origin: perhaps a diminutive of Greek kalandros 'lark', or, according to Coues, from Latin caleo 'to be warm', after the fiery crown patch. The specimen the first description was based on came from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.