Today, 11 Dec, a Golden-Crowned Kinglet finally made up for the dozens
of Ruby-Crowned Kinglets I've seen all through this fall. (My G-C tally
was zero until today).
This bird repeated a strange foraging behavior three times, right in
front of me. It was foraging in pine branches at eye level, at Richard
Jones Regional Park in western Fairfax County. It kept hopping along
the branch, then flitting to a nearby one, in typical active Kinglet
mode. But at the end of each branch, this one decided it was a
hummingbird. It flew out and hovered in one place, a few inches beyond
the tip of the branch, facing the branch. Perhaps this was its
technique for locating insects between the needles near the tip. From a
distance, you could have mistaken it (from the size and flight pattern)
for a hummer.
It also bent its head forward and down several times while perched,
showing off the huge dandelion-colored cap to me. Quite the little
showman.
If that's the only G-C Kinglet I get to see in 2006, okay, I'll take it.
- Steve Johnson
Fairfax, VA
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