Dan's Feathursday Feature: Golden-crowned Kinglet

The Golden-crowned Kinglet scores at least a nine on any observer’s cuteness meter. Not much bigger than a hummingbird, this tiny ball of energy flits quickly from branch to branch, cocking its head upward with a quizzical lilt, then dipping low to display it’s orange-gold crown, then hanging upside down and peeking coyly over its shoulder at the camera before snapping its wings and disappearing upward into the higher branches. All of this in about a second and a half, and usually well before I can snap a photo.

And whenever I see a Golden-crowned Kinglet, I feel my age.

Not figuratively, either. Literally. Clinically.

It’s not like how babysitting a two-year-old nephew or granddaughter makes you feel your age. You know, where the high energy level leaves you at first thrilled, but after three hours grateful that you only have to deal with this kid for short spurts of time.

It’s not like watching your favorite sport, and thinking, “Jeez, I used to be able to do that.…”

No, when I see a Golden-crowned Kinglet, it makes me feel my age because usually I see it before I hear it. As a Golden-crowned Kinglet bounces around in the higher canopy of a forest, it constantly voices a very high-pitched zee-zee-zeecall. This cute little bird is not polite enough to cheep at a frequency low enough for my “more experienced” ears to hear. Oh, if the wind is just right, and there is no interfering background noise, I am still able to catch it… most of the time…. I think….

I shouldn’t take it personal. It’s simply a fact of life. As we grow older, our ears start to lose the ability to hear sounds of higher frequency. I just took an on-line test, which told me that I am still able to hear up to 12,742 Hz. I’m not exactly sure where that leaves me, but I think it means I’ll hear 50% of the birds I would have heard twenty years ago.

And with hearing, there’s no faking it. I can try to thumb my nose at my steady advance toward the Elysian Fields by pasting on a cheap toupee and driving around in a two-seater convertible blasting ZZ Top—or other tricks to project an image of youth. But nothing deflates that bubble faster than being in the field with younger birders and being told: “What? You can’t hear that?”

Birding is the great equalizer. No respect for age and wisdom.

So, if you need another excuse to get yourself out in the field birding, the Golden-crowned Kinglet is it. You’ve got to get out there to hear as many of them as possible while you still can. Walk slowly and quietly, with your ears pointed upward toward the tops of the trees. Pay close enough attention, and you will surely hear them, soft and almost suppliant. Then, as you struggle to spot that tiny ball of feathers among all the leaves and branches, you will realize that your eyes are not what they used to be.

That is a horse of a different color….

Dan's Feathursday Feature is a weekly contribution to the COS blog featuring the thoughts, insights and pictures of Chicago birder, Dan Lory on birds of the Chicago region.