I’d noticed this little bird several times before, hopping around in one of my compost bins. This morning (sunny for a change), I took out some crab shells from last night’s dinner to bury and there he was again. He let me get within 6 feet, highly unusual. He had this enormous eye. I just stood there and he hopped around, as if he was performing. Perky. Up, around, he fluttered in the air once like a hummingbird, and gradually hopped closer to me. He had poisonality. I just stood there in the sunlight, enjoying the moment. I ran back for my camera and he was still there, so here he is. I thought it was a bushtit, but two people wrote in to say it’s a female Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. Once in a while something wonderful happens with a wild animal. Thrilling when it does.
Female Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
About Lloyd Kahn
Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the
Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include
Shelter,
Shelter II (1978),
Home Work (2004),
Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008),
Tiny Homes (2012), and
Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:
Ruby Crowned Kinglet!
Susan O
I think what you have there is a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet and a female at that. Sweet tiny birds. The Bushtits you will often see in groups.
Lloyd, your blog like your books is an inspiration. I enjoy your down-to-earth style, your kind words, your respect for people, your sharing.
Many Blessings.
Gee, i wonder what it would call itself? Birders are a funny lot. Thanks for sharing it, Lloyd. It's a beeeauuutiful little Bird.
Annie B. Pescadero
Thanks for the picture. I have seen these little guys/gals hopping around for years and had guessed that they were Ruby Crowned Kinglets but this is the first confirmation. They never seem to stay still but every once in a while I get a glimpse of that small flashing Ruby spot on the crown.
Dennis Monte Rio