A Close Encounter With the Ruby Crowned Kinglet Bird

A chilly Saturday morning when my daughter was reading a book in her bedroom, which faced our thick wooded backyard, she had glanced up just in time to see a small visitor fly directly into her window. Of course, he soon found that it wasn’t open. After the little bird hit the glass, my daughter screamed and we came running. Looking down we saw a very disoriented bird trying to ‘shake it off.’

It wobbled back and forth as if it were drunk on some bad nectar. Fearing that he was truly hurt I went outside to see if anything was broken as I have tended many times to small injured animals before. That was when my daughter recognized the extremely small mark of red upon his head and knew that it was a Ruby Crowned Kinglet. We were able to identify his sex because of the red marking on the head; the females wouldn’t have any red at all.

I walked softly outside as the kids stayed in and watched through the window. He didn’t seem frightened in the least; in fact he was pretty friendly. I picked him up off the ground and brought him to the patio for my son and daughter to see where I checked him for injuries. But everything seemed fine. So, I took our feathery friend to a tree branch so that I could set him free, hoping that he was no longer hurt and ready to rejoin the hundreds that live in our backyard.

Unfortunately, he didn’t feel the same and wouldn’t leave my hand. I held him up to the branch near the place that he fell but it was no use, he would not leave. After I physically placed him on the tree branch the little bird remained and refused to fly away. He walked back and forth on the branch just staring at us. He looked just as curious about us humans as we were about him. Then he began to chirp while remaining where I had placed him.

After about twenty minutes of the Ruby Crowned Kinglet just sitting there, we began to worry. Until that is, another male with an enormous red patch on his head swooped down and landed next to him. They chirped for a minute or two and then they both took flight. It was another happy ending for our backyard friends.
Next time you see the royal birds, remember that they’re as friendly as a bird can be but keep your head down because their flight records are a little shaky.