On this botanical garden visit we were totally captivated by a new life bird. We couldn’t get over how tiny it was! How could any songbird possibly be smaller than a chickadee? I couldn’t stop taking pictures.
A tiny bird seemingly overflowing with energy, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet forages almost frantically through lower branches of shrubs and trees. Its habit of constantly flicking its wings is a key identification clue. Smaller than a warbler or chickadee, this plain green-gray bird has a white eye ring and a white bar on the wing. Alas, the male’s brilliant ruby crown patch usually stays hidden—your best chance to see it is to find an excited male singing in spring or summer.
~ All About Birds website
Of course there were other things to notice on that beautifully sunny day.
(we didn’t actually see them move)
Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy, that we can scarcely mark their progress.
~ Charles Dickens
(Nicholas Nickleby)
(might be the same one we saw five days earlier)
We enjoyed seeing all the redbud trees, promising spring, with their vibrant blossoms appearing to accent the gray landscape well before any leaves come out. So many delightful changes are in the offing. It will be fun noticing as many of them as possible!
Thanks for the beauty, as always♥
You’re always welcome, Leelah. 💕 I hope you are doing well. 🙏
I so enjoyed your spring discoveries and appreciation here, Barbara. The redbud trees are so beautiful, a tree you enjoy in the east that we do not have in the west. And I was very happy for you to have discovered the ruby-crowned kinglet. And one very special day in the future you will get a glimpse of the crown, probably just a flash, and an additional joy will come to you. Cheers to you and spring.
Happy Spring, Jet! I saw a picture online of that little ruby crown and thought what a treat it would be to that pop up in the wild. It’s such a darling little bird. I’m glad you enjoyed my springtime wanderings — there are so many interesting things here in my new surroundings, things I never had the time to notice in the past while down here visiting my daughter and her family. Seems like every walk introduces me to something more.
#88 has some cute tail feathers there. The redbud trees are the perfect harbinger of warmer days.
#88 sure made a point of exhibiting those tail feathers, didn’t he? The warm days are definitely here!
What a cute tiny bird! I bet he’d fit nicely right in the middle of your palm … providing you were offering some seeds, of course! I love the redbuds and miss mine that died. I still don’t know what killed it, but it was magnificent in full bloom.
I don’t like to fall back on the superlatives too often but I keep wanting to say the little kinglet is the cutest little bird ever! Oh how sad that you lost your beautiful redbud. There are some around here that don’t look as healthy as others, which makes me wonder just what they need to thrive.
I love kinglets, such a sweet little bird. So active!
Looks like spring has sprung there… enjoy!
We are enjoying the spring weather and scenery as much as possible. You’re lucky to have so many kinglets in your neck of the woods there. This one was so much fun to watch. I hope there will be more of them!
What a day for you again Barbara! What a sweet little bird – your #88 life bird, plus the same size as the cute Chickadees. I have seen a Yellow crowned Kinglet, but it was years ago and just the one. I love the Redbud tree. We had a beautiful one at Council Point Park and they cut it down. It was so picturesque when in bloom and the geese and their goslings would be wandering and grazing near it. We have a few small Redbuds left there, not even what you’d call saplings, growing amongst the bushes, a vivid splash of color. I like seeing all those wildflowers you are finding on every visit and it’s not even Spring. I see those “real” snails and the frog embryos. You had a science expedition for this excursion..
These days have been pretty magical with so many new birds and blossoms to observe and photograph. Day after day of fun. I’m trying to make the most of them while they last, before the heat and humidity arrive and drive us indoors. I hope I will get to see a golden-crowned kinglet one of these days, lucky you to have seen one. That’s too bad they cut down that redbud. It’s a native species and we should plant more of them, not cut them down! And I found out chickadees like to eat their seeds. We had a few in Connecticut but they didn’t bloom until late April, early May. I will keep checking that pond in hopes of catching those tadpoles before they become frogs and hop away.
Your walks are so enchanted with new things to see at every turn. I saw that golden-crowned kinglet in a bush or tree and got a photo of it, but it was blurry. But I searched to see what it was anyway and learned its name. Redbuds are so pretty. The tree-cutting crew went through Council Point Park a few years ago and cut down three healthy trees – it made no sense at all; one was that Redbud and another tall Spruce. Sounds like a good idea – that transformation happens quickly!
Too many of my bird pictures are blurry, too. I really need to go through my files and delete all the duds to free up some space. Do you remember that river birch tree I had outside my kitchen window back in Connecticut? An old neighbor told us the condo association cut it down after we left, without telling the new owner of our unit that they were going to do it. I just don’t understand why some people hate trees so much… It was so beautiful…
I do remember your birch tree – they are beautiful trees. We had a birch tree planted when we moved here. It got a birch borer disease and had to be removed. It was in the front yard and left a big hole, so my parents got a locust tree and it got carpenter ants and had to be removed. There is nothing there now. A tree does enhance your property, plus provides shade and brings birds. My neighbor Marge planted two Bradford Pear trees on her City property. They quickly grew very tall and both ended up cracking/splitting as those type of trees are prone to do. The birds would sit in those trees all Winter long and sing. I’d be shoveling snow and would hear a chorus of birds.
I’ve just become acquainted with Bradford pear trees, which have been blossoming like crazy down here. Lots of people have them in their yards and we have one here in this complex. Apparently they are more susceptible to storm damage than the native tree species. They are beautiful, though, and now the green leaves are coming in, way before the other trees have started to bloom or leaf out. The redbuds are blooming, too, more modestly, I have to say. The landscape here is dominated by pines and oaks. I’m waiting for the flowering dogwood outside my kitchen window to start blooming.
Marge and her husband planted the trees after they moved here around 1992 and within five years they were huge. And they never dropped their leaves in the Fall (and when they did, the few that did drop were dark plum-colored leaves and they’d dot the snow). I love when all the flowering trees bloom, magnolias especially. The flowering dogwoods are beautiful. We had one years ago at the side of the house. I don’t remember what happened to it though. You are experiencing Spring-like blossoms and we are getting some snow on Friday morning (one to three inches) but raining in the afternoon so it will likely melt.
When Larisa moved down here over ten years ago I remember her being dazzled by all the lovely magnolias. I’m waiting to see what my wax myrtle will do. The internet says “Southern Wax Myrtle is primarily grown for its highly ornamental fruit. It features an abundance of magnificent blue berries from mid summer to mid fall. It features subtle chartreuse catkins along the branches from late winter to early spring. It has grayish green evergreen foliage. The fragrant narrow leaves remain grayish green throughout the winter.” I didn’t notice the berries last summer and fall but then again I was preoccupied with setting up house. I did notice that it kept it leaves all winter, though.
Magnolias are beautiful. There is a tree a couple of streets over that takes up a whole front lawn. I always go and have a look at it every Spring even though I’ve photographed it before and have to stand across the street to get it all in and the picture just does not do that tree justice. The Southern Wax Myrtle sounds very pretty. I can see where you would have been distracted by settling in and getting acclimated and then that heat and humidity arrived in full force. You have a world of discoveries out there soon Barbara!
So many new trees to learn about… It is hard to photograph a whole tree, though, so it’s fun to capture a blossom in the spring and a leaf in the autumn. 🙂
Yes it is – their beauty is lost when you must stand so far away … best to just capture the essence of the tree.
Congratulations on your fabulous RCKinglet lifer shots, how’d you get it to stay so long on that branch, lucky you! He was keen on giving you all his profiles, yay!! Gorgeous RSHawk, he must love that area too. Your budding shots are very pretty, yay for Spring!!
Thank you so much, Donna!! It’s wonderful to have you cheering me on. 🙂 I kept thinking the kinglet would fly away before I got the camera focused and was amazed that he stuck around for dozens of shots! There was that one little twig in front of him that blurred up the middle of him but, hey, beggars can’t be choosers. 😉
I can see why you kept taking photos of the kinglet! What a little cutie! Smaller than a chickadee? Like yellow finch sized would you say? So many signs of spring -I hope you are enjoying some nice weather to go with it. I’ve never seen frog embryos like that before- kind of gross but fascinating at the same time!
All About Birds says chickadees are 4.7-5.9″ long and kinglets are 3.5-4.3″ long so it wasn’t my imagination! Goldfinches are 4.3-5.1″ long. We have been enjoying some lovely weather, trying to make the most of it before the infamous summer heat and humidity arrive.
Barbara, I am loving all of your spring photos of the newly blooming flowers, and those tiny birds are so cute! ♡ Our snails her look nothing like the ones shown in your photo, so next time I see a snail in the garden I will take a photo for you, so you can see the difference.
Thank you, Joanne! For fun I googled Australia’s smallest bird and came up with a weebill, so cute and such an adorable name. ♡ It’s ever so slightly smaller than our kinglet. I bet your snails do look different. Apparently there are 40,000+ species of them worldwide!