Bird Calls Radio's Bird of the Day for Wednesday, Sept. 14

The Bird Calls Radio’s Bird of the Day for Wednesday, Sept. 14, is the ruby-crowned kinglet. As the above photo shows, kinglets are tiny birds — in fact the smallest New England birds, other than hummingbirds.

New England features two types of kinglets: ruby-crowned and golden-crowned. Both are small and seen most often during migration periods. They are hardy birds for their diminutive stature.

Ruby-crowned kinglets have a broken eye ring (see photo), which is perhaps the best field mark for identification purposes. Think ruby and ring (a ruby ring) and if the bird has the eye ring it’s a ruby-crowned and not golden-crowned.

Here’s the confusing part. The crown is not seen all the time, but when it is here’s the breakdown: male ruby-crowned has ruby crown; female ruby-crowned had no colorful crown; male golden-crowned has ruby crowned outlined with yellow; female golden-crowned has yellow crown. Confused? Don’t be. Just look for the eye ring instead.

Look for these small birds to start appearing throughout New England soon.

Be sure to check out Bird Calls every Saturday from 3 to 4 p.m. on WSTC/WNLK AM1400/1350 (in S. CT and nearby NY) or https://birdcallsradio.com/listen-live/ from anywhere in the world (where there’s Internet access, that is.) Thanks for checking in.