The Ruby-crowned Kinglet … a tiny avian jewel with a scarlet patch on its crown (usually not visible) … is one of my favorite birds, primarily because of it’s sprightly cheerful song — a series of very high notes followed by a rambling jumble and ending with a silly-sounding chant:
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – two songs each of two different males (from Quebec and northern New York). © Lang Elliott.
Although breeding in the Canadian northwoods, migrating ruby-crowneds are quite vocal, the males singing excitedly as they flit from limb to limb in search of insects in the forest understory or among shrubs and small trees in hedgerows, along creeks, or at forest edge. They may even be heard sounding off from thick vegetation in city parks, and sometimes along suburban sidewalks!
Today I heard my first kinglet of the year. I went walking barefoot in a small park next to a gurgling brook (near downtown Ithaca, NY), when a kinglet’s sprightly notes fell gently upon my ears:
A Taste of Spring, by Lang Elliott
barefoot in the park at dawn
grass beneath my feet so green
forsythia is blooming strong
daffodils are singing free
what was that? across the street?
among the trees along the creek?
a kinglet’s rambling, silly song?
here downtown? might i be wrong?
o frabjous day, he sings again!
with kinglet doth my day begin!
how joyous is this taste of spring
elixir to my wintered heart
the kinglet’s wanton will to sing
enlivens flowers freshly start
Lang Elliott reciting the above poem.
Frabjous day indeed! A Ruby-crowned Kinglet’s songs lift my spirits and send me smiling into the day!
Naturally Yours,
p.s. thank you Brian Small for the use of your photos!
Enjoyed both the song of the kinglet and the poem! I don’t think I have ever heard this bird.
Betsy: It’s quite a delicacy for those who listen. Where do you live? Perhaps they’re coming through now on migration to more northern areas.
The Kinglet has eluded me still – even after 5 years of trying to get a better than awful photograph with the crest up! Three years ago we had large numbers of the gold-crowned variety come through but since then I’ve only seen Rubies. We’re in their migratory route, I think as I don’t see them year-round. Anyway, very happy to see you’re back and that we can look forward to more delightful poems and videos. I was just thinking of you and your site the other day when in High Island, Texas I heard several songs – that I learned to identify from the nature recordings I bought from you! There is nothing to rival a walk through the woods hearing the gorgeous sounds of Swainson’s Thrushes overhead and also the Wood Thrushes. It is the first year of birding there that I hear them singing the full songs as they arrive. They usually wait a bit until they get further up in their range. It was amazing! You must go to High Island someday to the rookery and video the Roseate Spoonbills and Egrets. The babies are hatching right about now. If you can handle the mosquitoes, we’d love to have you come down one spring during peak migration. Check out Boy Scout Woods and the rookery. It’s a fantastic place for anyone to visit this time of year… before it gets really hot! :O)
Sara: wish I could be there now, on High Island. Sounds like a wonderful place at this time of year.
Hello Lang, I have only just found your site and what you share here is wonderful.
I am a pressed botanical artist and a huge fan of all things nature. How nice to have these sound recordings and poems. Do you record and post in the winter ?
Thanks again,
Mary Lou Fritz
Yes, I will be posting next winter, both videos and sound recordings and what not (poems, etc.). Last winter was gobbled up working on the computer. I’m hoping to have lots more time for nature immersion in the months and years to come.
Lang:
So glad your site is back up and running….a real jewel. I am trying to do my small part to inspire folks as well…technical question for you re gear as I am getting more into video with my dslr – what model Zacuto do you use for your video work?
Thanks, and keep up the inspiring work.
Hi there Mike! These days, for bird video work, I use a Panasonic Lumix GH4 with a Canon 500mm lens. The Lumix EVF is quite good, so no need for a Zacuto EVF, even though I own one. For insects and frogs and other small things, I use a Canon XL-20 camcorder, often with closeup lenses attached.
One of my favorite songs, always makes you smile and be glad. Of course it doesn’t hold a candle to the White-throated Sparrow. Dick
I too love the white-throated sparrow’s whistles, but they don’t qualify as being in the “silly” category, as does the sprightly little song of the r-c kinglet. When I had the kinglet song, I smile and chuckle at it’s bouncing notes. When I hear the white-throats song (at least here in Ithaca, NY during migration), I think of the north woods bog lands and wish the singer safe travel in the days to come.