This tiny Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa) seemed pretty excited on Wednesday at the appearance of tender young buds on the trees at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The kinglet has probably had to subsist on a diet of dried-up seeds during the winter, so the buds are undoubtedly a welcome treat.
Golden-crowned Kinglets are energetic and acrobatic and I really enjoyed watching this one feeding, who sometimes seemed to defy gravity. The images reflect only some of the varied poses of the kinglet—in most of my other shots the kinglet had its head down or was looking away.
I particularly like the pose in the final shot in which the kinglet is hanging horizontally and looking right at me. One of my Facebook friends thought that I was lying down and looking upward when I took that shot, but I can assure you that I was standing upright at that moment.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
How cute, Mike.
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Thanks, Mitzy. I totally agree that kinglets are cute (and really fun to watch). 🙂
Lovely swinging birds
Thanks. These little birds weigh almost nothing. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a Golden-crowned Kinglet weighs only 0.1-0.3 oz (4-8 g). Yikes!
Wow, that’s interesting. They are so adorable.
I like the photo at the top the best, Mike but the one at the bottom is an interesting pose.
Thanks, Dan, for weighing in. I was really happy with the first shot, because it showed the bird munching on the bud, but somehow the weird pose of the final image appealed to me a tiny bit more. 🙂
The last photo is absolutely adorable!