Wearing a Golden Crown

This morning I set out to find a specific bird and was almost a little disappointed in how quickly it happened. There have been reports on the local list serve that people are seeing Golden-crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa) in the area so I took a very short drive to one of the spots mentioned. I hadn't walked for two minutes down the trail when I caught some motion in a spruce. Moving closer I could see black markings on the head and wing bars that reminded me of the images I'd looked at. Yes, I studied up before I went out. By this point I was 90% sure it was the bird I was seeking. Moving closer it was very actively working its way around the branches of the spruce when suddenly it bowed over straight toward me displaying its bright golden crown. Now I was 100% sure!



Even though the light wasn't great--there is a snowstorm on the way--I took a camera along to practice shooting small, active birds. I want to try to sharpen my currently pathetic picture taking (I wouldn't even call it photography at this point) before the warbler wave hits in a few weeks. Over the remainder of my walk I saw more Golden-crowned Kinglets, several Pine Siskins including a couple sharing food, American Coots and Buffleheads in the lake.