Kinglet

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Kinglets
Regulus regulus japonensis face.JPG
Goldcrest (Regulus regulus) in Japan
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Suborder: Passeri
Parvorder: Muscicapida
Family: Regulidae
Vigors, 1825
Genera

A kinglet is a small bird in the family Regulidae. Species in this family were formerly classified with the Old World warblers. "Regulidae" is derived from the Latin word regulus for "petty king" or prince, and refers to the coloured crowns of adult birds. This family has representatives in North America and Eurasia. There are six species in this family; one, the Madeira firecrest, Regulus madeirensis, was only recently split from common firecrest as a separate species. One species, the ruby-crowned kinglet, differs sufficiently in its voice and plumage to be afforded its own genus, Corthylio.

Contents

Description

Kinglets are among the smallest of all passerines, ranging in size from 8 to 11 cm (3 to 4.5 in) and weighing 6–8 g (0.21–0.28 oz); the sexes are the same size. They have medium-length wings and tails, and small needle-like bills. The plumage is overall grey-green, offset by pale wingbars, and the tail tip is incised. Five species have a single stiff feather covering the nostrils, but in the ruby-crowned kinglet this is replaced by several short, stiff bristles. Most kinglets have distinctive head markings, and the males possess a colourful crown patch. In the females, the crown is duller and yellower. The long feathers forming the central crown stripe can be erected; they are inconspicuous most of the time, but are used in courtship and territorial displays when the raised crest is very striking. [1]

There are two species of different genera in North America with largely overlapping distributions, and two in Eurasia that also have a considerable shared range. In each continent, one species (goldcrest in Eurasia and golden-crowned kinglet in North America) is a conifer specialist; these have deeply grooved pads on their feet for perching on conifer twigs and a long hind toe and claw for clinging vertically. The two generalists, ruby-crowned kinglet and common firecrest, hunt more in flight and have smoother soles, shorter hind claws and a longer tail. [1]

Taxonomy

The kinglets are a small group of birds sometimes included in the Old World warblers but frequently given family status, [2] especially as recent research showed that, despite superficial similarities, the crests are phylogenetically remote from the warblers. [3] [4] The name of the family derives from the Latin regulus, a diminutive of rex, "a king", [5] and refer to the characteristic orange or yellow crests of adult kinglets (aside from the red crest of Corthylio). The kinglets were allocated to the warbler genus Sylvia by English naturalist John Latham in 1790, [6] but moved to their current genus by French zoologist Georges Cuvier in 1800. [7]

Most members of the genus Regulus are similar in size and colour pattern. The exception is the ruby-crowned kinglet, the largest species, which has a strongly red crest and no black crown stripes. It has distinctive vocalisations, and is different enough from the Old World kinglets and the other American species, the golden-crowned kinglet, to be assigned to a separate genus, Corthylio. [1] [8] [9]

Species in taxonomic order

Distribution and habitat

Kinglets are birds of the Nearctic and Palearctic realms, with representatives in temperate North America, Europe and Asia, northernmost Africa, Macaronesia and the Himalayas. They are adapted to conifer forests, although there is a certain amount of adaptability and most species will use other habitats, particularly during migration. In Macaronesia, they are adapted to laurisilva and tree heaths. [1]

Behaviour

Diet and feeding

The tiny size and rapid metabolism of kinglets means that they must constantly forage in order to provide their energy needs. They will continue feeding even when nest building. Kinglets prevented from feeding may lose a third of their body weight in twenty minutes and may starve to death in an hour. Kinglets are insectivores, preferentially feeding on prey such as aphids and springtails that have soft cuticles. Prey is generally gleaned from the branches and leaves of trees, although in some circumstances prey may be taken on the wing or from the leaf litter on the ground.

Life cycle

Kinglet nests are small, very neat cups, almost spherical in shape, made of moss and lichen held together with spiderwebs and hung from twigs near the end of a high branch of a conifer. They are lined with hair and feathers, and a few feathers are placed over the opening. These characteristics provide good insulation against the cold environment. The female lays 7 to 12 eggs, which are white or pale buff, some having fine dark brown spots. Because the nest is small, they are stacked in layers. The female incubates; she pushes her legs (which are well supplied with blood vessels, hence warm) down among the eggs. A unique feature of kinglets is the "size hierarchy" among eggs, with early-laid eggs being smaller than later ones. [10]

Eggs hatch asynchronously after 15 to 17 days. The young stay in the nest for 19 to 24 days. After being fed, nestlings make their way down to the bottom of the nest, pushing their still-hungry siblings up to be fed in their turn (but also to be cold).

Kinglets are the most fecund and shortest-living of all altricial birds, [11] and probably the shortest-lived apart from a few smaller galliform species. Adult mortality for the goldcrest is estimated at over 80 percent per year [12] and the maximum lifespan is only six years. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pallas's leaf warbler</span> A small migratory passerine bird that breeds in northern Asia

Pallas's leaf warbler or Pallas's warbler, is a bird that breeds in mountain forests from southern Siberia east to northern Mongolia and northeast China. It is named for German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas, who first formally described it. This leaf warbler is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in south China and adjacent areas of southeast Asia, although in recent decades increasing numbers have been found in Europe in autumn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goldcrest</span> Small passerine bird in the kinglet family

The goldcrest is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. Its colourful golden crest feathers, as well as being called the "king of the birds" in European folklore, gives rise to its English and scientific names. The scientific name, R. regulus, means king or knight. Several subspecies are recognised across the very large distribution range that includes much of the Palearctic and the islands of Macaronesia and Iceland. Birds from the north and east of its breeding range migrate to winter further south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common firecrest</span> Very small passerine bird from Europe and northwest Africa

The common firecrest, also known as the firecrest, is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. It breeds in most of temperate Europe and northwestern Africa, and is partially migratory, with birds from central Europe wintering to the south and west of their breeding range. Firecrests in the Balearic Islands and north Africa are widely recognised as a separate subspecies, but the population on Madeira, previously also treated as a subspecies, is now treated as a distinct species, the Madeira firecrest, Regulus madeirensis. A fossil ancestor of the firecrest has been identified from a single wing bone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden-crowned kinglet</span> Species of bird

The golden-crowned kinglet is a very small songbird in the family Regulidae that lives throughout much of North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby-crowned kinglet</span> Species of bird

The ruby-crowned kinglet is a very small passerine bird found throughout North America. It is a member of the kinglet family. The bird has olive-green plumage with two white wing bars and a white eye-ring. Males have a red crown patch, which is usually concealed. The sexes are identical, and juveniles are similar in plumage to adults. It is one of the smallest songbirds in North America. The ruby-crowned kinglet is not closely related to other kinglets, and is put in its own genus, Corthylio. Three subspecies are currently recognized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bay-breasted warbler</span> Species of bird

The bay-breasted warbler is a small species of songbird in the New World warbler family, Parulidae. It is one of thirty-four species in the diverse genus Setophaga. Like all songbirds, or passerines, the species is classified in the order Passeriformes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flamecrest</span> Species of bird

The flamecrest or Taiwan firecrest, is a species of bird in the kinglet family, Regulidae, that is endemic to the mountains of Taiwan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madeira firecrest</span> Very small passerine bird in the kinglet family from Madeira

The Madeira firecrest, Madeira kinglet, or Madeiracrest is a very small passerine bird endemic to the island of Madeira. It is a member of the kinglet family. Before it was recognised as a separate species in 2003, it was classified as a subspecies of the common firecrest. It differs in appearance and vocalisations from its relative, and genetic analysis has confirmed it as a different species. The Madeiran bird has green upperparts, whitish underparts and two white wingbars, and a distinctive head pattern with a black eye stripe, short white supercilium, and a crest that is mainly orange in the male and yellow in the female.

The São Miguel goldcrest, Estrelinha-de-poupa in Portuguese, is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. One of several goldcrest insular subspecies in the North Atlantic archipelagos of Macaronesia, it is endemic to São Miguel in the Azores where it is a non-migratory resident.

<i>Regulus</i> (bird) Genus of birds

Regulus is a genus of bird in the family Regulidae.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Martens, Jochen; Päckert, Martin "Family Regulidae (Kinglets & Firecrests)" pp. 330–349 in Del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew; Christie, David A., eds. (2006). Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 11: Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. ISBN   978-84-96553-06-4.
  2. ↑ Monroe, Burt L. (February 1992). "The new DNA-DNA avian classification: What's it all about?". British Birds . 85 (2): 53–61.
  3. ↑ Barker, F Keith; Barrowclough, George F; Groth, Jeff G (2002). "A phylogenetic hypothesis for passerine birds: taxonomic and biogeographic implications of an analysis of nuclear DNA sequence data". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B . 269 (1488): 295–308. doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1883. PMC   1690884 . PMID   11839199.
  4. ↑ Spicer, Greg S; Dunipace, Leslie (2004). "Molecular phylogeny of songbirds (Passerifor-mes) inferred from mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 30 (2): 325–335. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00193-3. PMID   14715224. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
  5. ↑ Brookes, Ian, ed. (2006). The Chambers Dictionary, ninth edition. Edinburgh: Chambers. pp. 223, 735, 1277. ISBN   978-0-550-10185-3.
  6. ↑ Latham, John (1790). Index ornithologicus, sive, Systema ornithologiae, complectens avium divisionem in classes, ordines, genera, species, ipsarumque varietates, adjectis synonymis, locis, descriptionibus, &c (in Latin). Vol. ii. London: Leigh & Sotheby. p. 548.
  7. ↑ Cuvier, Georges (1800). Lecons d'anatomie comparee de M. G. Cuvier, Recueillies et publiees sous ses yeux, par C. Dumeril et Duvernoy (in French). Vol. 1, table 2. Paris: Crochard et cie.
  8. ↑ Chesser, R.T.; Billerman, S.M.; Burns, K.J.; Cicero, C.; Dunn, J.L.; Hernández-Baños, B.E.; Kratter, A.W.; Lovette, I.J.; Mason, N.A.; Rasmussen, P.C.; Remsen, J.V.J.; Stotz, D.F.; Winker, K. (2021). "Sixty-second Supplement to the American Ornithological Society's Check-list of North American Birds". Ornithology. 138 (ukab037). doi: 10.1093/ornithology/ukab037 .
  9. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Dapple-throats, sugarbirds, fairy-bluebirds, kinglets, Elachura, hyliotas, wrens, gnatcatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  10. ↑ Haftorn, Svein; "Clutch size, intraclutch egg size variation, and breeding strategy in the Goldcrest Regulus regulus"; in Journal of Ornithology , Volume 127, Number 3 (1986), 291-301.
  11. ↑ Sibly Richard M., Witt, Christopher C., Wright, Natalie A., Venditti, Chris, Jetze, Walter and Brown, James H.; "Energetics, lifestyle, and reproduction in birds" Archived 19 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine ; in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; 109 (27); pp. 10937-10941
  12. ↑ In Ricklefs, R.E.; "Sibling competition, hatching asynchrony, incubation period, and lifespan in altricial birds"; in Power, Dennis M. (editor); Current Ornithology. Vol. 11. ISBN   9780306439902
  13. ↑ Wasser, D. E. and Sherman, P.W.; "Avian longevities and their interpretation under evolutionary theories of senescence" in Journal of Zoology 2 November 2009
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