Ruby-crowned Kinglet ♔ South Coast Botanic Garden Palos Verdes Peninsula California 097
Quoted from article“On 22 April 2005, I captured a banded Ruby-crowned Kinglet. I was amazed to see that it was not a bird that I had previously banded. The rule of thumb is that fewer than 1% of small songbirds are ever encountered away from the place they are banded. And kinglets are one of the smallest songbirds, weighing in at around 6 or 7 grams, or the same weight as an American nickel and a dime. They are so tiny, in fact, that properly-sized bands have only been made since 1993. Prior to that time, the smallest band size had to be modified to fit them, and many banders released kinglets without banding them at all.
....At our inland site, we don’t even SEE as many kinglets as these stations band in a typical fall season! This seems to provide evidence that these little mites prefer to travel along shorelines rather than over water during their journeys between their nesting areas in northern spruce-fir forests and their wintering areas in the southern U.S., Mexico, and Central America.
The capture of this one bird provides only a single data point, and while it is a notably rare event, in itself it doesn’t deliver a big scientific wallop. But this encounter is valuable in other ways. Ruby-crowned Kinglet number 2310-75634 has provided a special connection between two bird research stations studying urban bird ecology — an underappreciated focus that often struggles for acknowledgment and recognition. And it provides an opportunity for us all to marvel at the resilience of such a small creature, and how much we still don’t know about this common bird that flits among us, just passing by.” Rrbo .org
Ruby-crowned Kinglet ♔ South Coast Botanic Garden Palos Verdes Peninsula California 097
Quoted from article“On 22 April 2005, I captured a banded Ruby-crowned Kinglet. I was amazed to see that it was not a bird that I had previously banded. The rule of thumb is that fewer than 1% of small songbirds are ever encountered away from the place they are banded. And kinglets are one of the smallest songbirds, weighing in at around 6 or 7 grams, or the same weight as an American nickel and a dime. They are so tiny, in fact, that properly-sized bands have only been made since 1993. Prior to that time, the smallest band size had to be modified to fit them, and many banders released kinglets without banding them at all.
....At our inland site, we don’t even SEE as many kinglets as these stations band in a typical fall season! This seems to provide evidence that these little mites prefer to travel along shorelines rather than over water during their journeys between their nesting areas in northern spruce-fir forests and their wintering areas in the southern U.S., Mexico, and Central America.
The capture of this one bird provides only a single data point, and while it is a notably rare event, in itself it doesn’t deliver a big scientific wallop. But this encounter is valuable in other ways. Ruby-crowned Kinglet number 2310-75634 has provided a special connection between two bird research stations studying urban bird ecology — an underappreciated focus that often struggles for acknowledgment and recognition. And it provides an opportunity for us all to marvel at the resilience of such a small creature, and how much we still don’t know about this common bird that flits among us, just passing by.” Rrbo .org