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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Regulus satrapa
Golden-crowned Kinglet

 
Scientific Name: Regulus satrapa Lichtenstein, 1823
English Name: Golden-crowned Kinglet
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Classification Level: Species
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: B-GCKI
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Aves Passeriformes Regulidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Apr 2016)
Provincial Status: S5 (Mar 2015)
BC List: Yellow
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
Migratory Bird Convention Act: Y
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description:
Global Reproduction Comments: In northern Minnesota, begins nesting in mid-May; second clutch may be initiated in late June-early July (Galati 1991). Clutch size 5-11 (usually 8-9) (Terres 1980). Female incubates, about 14-15 days. Males feeds incubating female and fledglings from first brood. Young tended by both parents (both are required for successful nest), fledge at 18-19 days (may climb out of nest a couple days earlier), become independent about 2 months after egg laying; single pair may raise two broods in a single season (Galati 1991).
Global Ecology Comments: Territory size in northern Minnesota was 2.1-6.2 acres (mean 4.1 acres) (Galati 1991). Hatching and fledging success were high in Minnesota; the most frequent sources of nesting mortality were predation on nests (e.g., by red squirrel or gray jay), starvation of nestings due to loss of one or both parents, and faulty or infertile eggs (Galati 1991). Population declines occur after exceptionally cold winters. Commonly associates with chickadees, brown creepers, and downy woodpeckers during the nonbreeding period.
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		Y /
Y /
Y /
na /
Global Migration Comments: Northern breeding populations migrate south for winter.
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)
Global Habitat Comments: Coniferous forest and woodland (especially spruce), in migration and winter also deciduous woodland, scrub and brush (AOU 1983). Nests usually in an evergreen, most often in crown 9-18 m above ground; average about 15 m in northern Minnesota (Terres 1980, Galati 1991).
Food Habits: Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Feeds primarily on insects and their eggs (e.g., bark beetles, scale insects, aphids). Also drinks tree sap (Terres 1980) and eats some fruit and seeds (rare according to Galati 1991). Young are fed various insects and other small arthropods and sometimes small snails (Galati 1991). In Maine, winter diet appeared to consist primarily of geometrid caterpillars (Heinrich and Bell 1995, Wilson Bulletin 107:558-561). Forages among branches of trees, gleaning from foliage and bark. Often obtains prey while clinging to or hanging from foliage (Keast and Saunders 1991). Sometimes uses short flight to capture flying insect.
Global Phenology: Diurnal: Adult, Immature
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 10/ / 6
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: BREEDING: southern Alaska to Newfoundland, south to central California, southern Utah, southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, southern Manitoba, northern Wisconsin, northern Ohio, New York, in mountains to eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, northern Maryland, northern New Jersey, and southern Maine; also in highlands through Mexico to western Guatemala; isolated populations in South Dakota, Illinois, and Indiana (Ingold and Galati 1997, AOU 1998). NON-BREEDING: south-coastal Alaska and southern Canada south to northern Baja California, southwestern U.S., Guatemala, central Tamaulipas, Gulf Coast, and Florida (AOU 1998).
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Hammerson, G.
Last Updated: Apr 19, 1996
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1997. Forty-first supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 114(3):542-552.
Banks, R. C., and M. R. Browning. 1995. Comments on the status of revived old names for some North American birds. Auk 112:633-648.
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, M.C.E. McNall and G.E.J. Smith 1997. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 3, Passerines: Flycatchers through Vireos. UBC Press in cooperation with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv. and B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch. 700pp.
Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1992. Birds in Jeopardy: the Imperiled and Extinct Birds of the United States and Canada, Including Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. 259 pp.
Galati, B., and C. B. Galati. 1985. Breeding of the golden-crowned kinglet in northern Minnesota. J. Field Ornithol. 56:28-40.
Galati, R. 1991. Golden-crowned kinglets: treetop nesters of the north woods. Iowa State Univ. Press. 142 pp.
Keast, A., and S. Saunders. 1991. Ecomorphology of the North American ruby-crowned (REGULUS CALENDULA) and golden-crowned (R. SATRAPA) kinglets. Auk 108:880-888.
National Geographic Society (NGS). 1983. Field guide to the birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1996. Species Summary: Regulus satrapa. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 10, 2026).