Golden-crowned Kinglets (Regulus satrapa) are among the smallest birds in our area of Northern Virginia at about 4 inches (10 cm) in length. These tiny songbirds are also extremely fast and frenetic and they move about high in the trees.
I spotted a Golden-crowned Kinglet this past Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge on a rare January day with blue skies. When I am tracking kinglets, I usually shoot in short bursts, hoping to capture a moment when the birds are stationary. I often ended up with blurry shots of the back of the head of this kinglet and sometimes the bird moved so quickly that it was already outside of the frame by the time I clicked the shutter.
The favorite two images, as you can see below, show the little bird in motion. In the first photo, the kinglet seemed to hover momentarily as it flitted about among the branches. In the second image, which I cropped significantly, I captured the moment when the kinglet pushed off from one branch and flew downwards towards another prospective perch. I just barely managed to keep the kinglet in the frame—in the original image the kinglet is in the lower third of the image, with its extended wing almost touching the bottom edge.
Patience and persistence helped me get this image, along with fast reflexes from lots of practice. To be honest, though, I must admit that luck played a significant role my success.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Did I ever enjoy these two golden-crowned kinglet photos, Mike. We have them here in No. Calif. but I hardly ever see them, we see the ruby-crowned kinglets more. I am super impressed that you were able to capture photos because they’re so very twitchy. Excellent!
Thanks so much, Jet. We too have Ruby-crowned Kinglets and they are equally hard to photography (and it’s especially difficult to get a shot that shows the ruby crown). I love the word “twitchy” that you used to describe the behavior of the kinglets–it fits perfectly.
Ah.. these are beautiful!
Thanks, Liz. I am pretty happy to get shots of this little bird. I often get glimpses of them flitting about in the trees, but it’s rare that I am able to get a clear shot of a kinglet.