Speaking of Ruby-Crowned Kinglets (RCK) acting weirdly & having a hard time,
as in Scott Atkinson's "snowed-birding" Tweeters post yesterday, we too had
a somewhat similar experience...as we entered the Costco store in Sequim WA
yesterday, after being snowed-in and shovelling ourselves most of the week.
A male RCK was fluttering around just inside the store's entrance and landed
on the rim of our cart as we entered the open-door of the store. It was
about noon then and still pretty cold outside (likely in the mid-thirties).
The bird's rather low, brief and fluttery movements before landing on our
cart indicated it clearly was weakened, although its plumage tone and color,
including the bright, ruby-red spot of a male fully visible on its crown,
seemed "normal" enough on the surface. In other words, it looked good and
fit enough to still cock its head and look me right in the eye. As it sat on
the rim of our cart, a couple feet from me, I moved my hand and index finger
slowly toward it up under its belly, the way you gently invite a pet bird
like a small parrot to climb onto your finger. When I got within an inch or
two of it though, it fluttered off nearby at low elevation in the store. By
then people were gathering around, a bit curious, but also being pushed to
keep the entrance clear, and my wife Rosemary was urging me to take the bird
outside. After watching it intently, however, for few moments my own sense
was that it could still function well enough to fly a bit and stay clear of
the ground, and allowing it warm up in the store a bit more near the
entrance was likely wiser than trying to grab it and stress it even more
now. So, as we continued on into the store, I last saw it fluttering 3-6
feet above the floor amid the boxes of merchandise that lined the store's
entrance. Several hours later, back home in Port Angeles in the foothills
south of town at about 700 ft. elev., it had warmed up enough to clearly be
rapidly changing from all cold and ever-deepening snow that we'd just
experienced for nearly a week...and I thought that it might be even warmer
down lower in Sequim by then too, and our little male RCK hopefully could
make it for another day. But making it through any prolonged, deep-cold and
freezing-wet events like this is a very dicey proposition for very tiny,
high-metabolism birds like these kinglets; and hope this little guy made
it...in the store or otherwise.

Bruce Moorhead
Port Angeles, WA