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Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Feathered royalty wearing golden crowns

Temperatures have dropped well below freezing, so my photographic excursions into the back yard have been brief and often unproductive. Highlights over the past two weeks have been visits by a troupe of diminutive  kings and queens. The procession included two species.

Golden-crowned Kinglets move down from their breeding grounds in northern New England and Canada. Some stay here all winter, but most continue south into the lower 48 States. A small flock of these tiny birds suddenly appeared along the back fence. They were very active, and I obtained a short burst of images of only one. The males usually have a bit of red or orange in the middle of their yellow head patch, so this is probably an adult female:



There was a single Ruby-crowned Kinglet among them. The male's red crest is usually hidden. In spring it is much more in evidence:


My remaining photos were taken of birds in and around the feeders, from inside the windows of our front door. The golden-brown autumn leaves provided a nice background for this Tufted Titmouse as it hacked at a sunflower seed:


A Blue Jay briefly commandeered the suet feeder:



White-breasted Nuthatches visited frequently:

Other feeder visitors included a male Red-bellied Woodpecker...

...and a male Northern Cardinal:

Dark-eyed Juncos fed on scattered seed, under the feeders:


A lone Turkey Vulture flew over. I stepped outside for this shot:

Again, in search of a contribution to the reflection meme, I recalled the white heads of these two Bald Eagles, seen during a wildlife cruise out of Ketchikan, Alaska in June, 2014:

This week's header: Golden-crowned Kinglet

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Linking to:



Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World
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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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21 comments:

  1. Always here to admire many cute beautiful birds

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  2. Terrific photographs, Ken! Very nice series of the Golden-crowned Kinglet.

    After viewing all these, I'm ready to hit the woods as soon as it stops raining.

    Take good care.

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  3. As always it is so nice to see your pictures! Thank you for sharing them!

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  4. All wonderful captures. Loved the name Kinglet!

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  5. Those kinglets are beautiful. Again, you make such great photographs of the birds in your area.

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  6. I just had my first dark-eyed junco. There are probably more looking in the leaves than I saw...never saw a kinglet...

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  7. Hello Ken,

    Love the cute kinglets, they are adorable. Great variety of birds, beautifully photographed. I really like the photo of the two Eagles. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a great weekend.

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  8. Hi Ken, these are again impressively beautiful photos. I can actually only repeat myself over and over again. The kinglets are particularly cute. I assume they are our 'Wintergoldhähnchen'(Regulus regulus). In any case, they look very similar. Thanks for showing and linking to Nature Thursday. Kind regards – Elke

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  9. The Kinglet is a beautiful bird and it's nice to get photos that show off the color and markings of the birds you see. Wonderful photos. Hope the sun shines and warms things up this week! Hugs, Diane

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  10. For some reason I read the title as "The problem with wearing crowns'. Then got confused and reread it correctly. So not sure where my subconscious is at but clearly agitated about something....Love the jay and cardinal - we don't get them. Such great bold colours. Thanks for sharing with #Allseasons

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  11. Enjoyed the visit so much. Look forward to seeing these top notch bird images and explanations besides. Happy Thanksgiving.

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  12. Outstanding photos as always! I'm also glad you were able to get a good shot of the Turkey Vulture.

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  13. ... the Golden-crowned Kinglet with its wings spread is a fabulous capture. Thanks for this post, Kenneth.

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  14. WOW! Incredible photography, Kenneth!
    I especially love the kinglets.

    Happy Wednesday!

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  15. Another brilliant collection of beautiful birds love their colours :-)

    Have a tweettastic week 👍

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