Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Late in the morning on a clear, sunny, colorful fall day, October 20, I heard the stuttering chatter of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet for the first time this season, coming from some low thickets along the roadside as I walked, a familiar dry, percussive little voice that is so natural a part of the fall and winter landscape here. Two or three days later I got my first look at one, moving around quickly in the low branches of a young water oak – a small, very active gray bird with darker wings, white wing-bar and white ring around the eye that give it an alert and watchful look. It’s always on the move, often flitting its wings. The small, bright ruby crest was not raised and visible – often the case at this time of year.

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