George asked -

>Can anyone tell me if immature golden crowned kinglets are slow in getting
>their yellow crowns? For the last week or two we have had a small visitor at
>our bird bath that has the appearance of a ratty GCKI (partial dark eyeline
>with a significant white eyebrow stripe, single light wingbar trailed by a
>dark area, olive green back, rapid movements and wing flutter, small to very
>small) but for which the crown is dirty white speckled with dark and darker
>around the edges in a way that suggests that it could turn into the
>appropriate dark edging. Is this familiar to everyone else? This is our
>first year out here in the country and we are learning a lot about how
>different juveniles can look.

Great description of a recently fledged Golden-crowned Kinglet, George. One of the
parents is usually not very far away. Incidentally, some new research has found that in
passerine birds such as kinglets which split the brood up after fledging, daddy may take
male birds and mommy may take the females. Interesting. On a downer note, we ran into a
kinglet feeding a cowbird a few years ago up here in P.G. so they are not immune to
predation. The size difference was incongruous.

- Jack


***************************
*Jack Bowling *
*Prince George, BC *
*jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca *
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