Ruby-crowned Kinglets are one of my favorite birds. Over the past couple of weeks they have migrated back to the area.
I see them in mixed flocks with golden-crowned kinglets, chickadees, bushtits, nuthatches and brown creepers. They are very energetic, zipping from one branch to another gleaning insects. I will often see them hover in place underneath a leaf or branch of a plant as they catch an insect.
I will often hear their call note that Peterson describes in his field guide as a husky "ji-dit”. Even now I will occasionally hear them sing a line of their song. It is such a sweet, warbling whistle. Peterson describes it as, “several high notes, lower notes, and a chant, tee tee tee-tew tew tew — ti-didee, tididee, tididee.”
I managed to get a photo that wasn’t completely a blur of this high-spirited, enthusiastic creature.