Golden-crowned Kinglet

Description:

From a, " A Field Guide to the Birds, Eastern Land and Water Birds" by Roger Tory Peterson; 2nd Edition. "Kinglets are tiny mites of birds, smaller than warblers. Their diminutive proportions and somber olive-gray wings make them difficult to discern among the thick branches of the evergreens from which they forage. The present species, except for summer juveniles, always shows a conspicuous bright crown, yellow in the female, orange in the male. ...the Golden-crown has a white stripe over the eye."

Habitat:

From, "Audubon, Guide to North American Birds".Mostly conifers; in winter, sometimes other trees. Breeds in dense coniferous forest, especially those of spruce, fir, and hemlock, less often in Douglas-fir or pines. In migration and winter may be found in deciduous trees, but tends to seek out conifers even then, including pine groves and exotic conifers planted in cemeteries and parks.

Notes:

I've been a bird lover and and watcher since the mid 1970's. I have several bird seed and suet feeders in my backyard, and I love to photograph and study birds in the field and in my backyard. I was trying to take some pictures of several species of the more common backyard birds at a feeder a day or two after a recent snowstorm, and was using my Canon T2i55D with a 75-300 mm zoom. While focusing my camera, standing near one of the feeders close to my house and a white pine I had planted many years ago, I heard the slight whirring sound of small wings near me. I looked up and to my surprise saw a tiny bird flittering in the branches above a suet feeder, only about 3-5 feet from my head. I was delighted, as I had never seen this species of bird before. I fumbled with my zoom setting and stepped back a little to take some pictures of this visitor. She was very active, and seemed curious and unafraid as she came as close to three-feet of me while I shot. I looked in my field guide later, to identify the species and discovered this sighting to be a female Golden-crowned Kinglet, a tiny visitor from the north. She had a nice engaging personality, and I hope to see more of her. A new addition to my Life-list!