A few bloggers have recently been posting about kinglet experiences of late so I thought I'd throw mine out there as well. Walking to Chicago's Field Museum a couple of weeks ago I spotted a family peering intently into some pines. On approaching the father pointed out a small bird flitting about making a high pitched noise from time to time. In Europe it'd have been goldcrest but here we were looking at a remarkably similar looking bird - Golden-crowned kinglet.
These are cracking little birds, absolutely stunning. Especially when you catch the crown at the right angle. Once I'd offered up an identification and congratulated them on spotting such a cool little bird I went on my way pretty quick (I had t-rex, maneating lions and some other cool stuff to look at). On my way out though I swung by the pines again and was delighted to find not one but a whole flock of kinglets working the branches.
These guys seem to feed in a remarkably similar way to the goldcrests in our garden in the UK - working amongst the tightly packed fresh pine needles for spiders and other bugs hiding out. It's not ideal for photography especially in bad light with a 70mm lens only.
So cool to see two such similar birds halfway around the world from each other.
1 comment:
These are such charming birds, so much fun, full of verve and vitality. They and their close cousins, ruby-crowned kinglets, provide lots of entertainment in winter. Glad they stayed around long enough for you to go back and see them.
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