Regulus calendula
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The ruby-crowned kinglet (Corthylio calendula) is a very small passerine bird found throughout North America. It is a member of the kinglet family. The bird has olive-green plumage with two white wing bars and a white eye-ring. Males have a red crown patch, which is often concealed. The sexes are identical apart from the crown, and juveniles are similar in plumage to adult females. It is one of the smallest songbirds in North America. The ruby-crowned kinglet is not closely related to other kinglets and was moved from Regulus to its own genus, Corthylio, in 2021. Three subspecies are currently recognized.
The kinglet is mostly migratory, and its range extends from northwest Canada and Alaska south to Mexico. Its breeding habitat is spruce-fir forests in the northern and mountainous regions of the United States and Canada. The ruby-crowned kinglet builds a cup-shaped nest, which may be pensile or placed on a tree branch and is often hidden. It lays up to 12 eggs, and has the largest clutch of any North American passerine for its size. It is mainly insectivorous, but also eats fruits and seeds.
The ruby-crowned kinglet was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist... Wikipedia →
Recording0:04
United States · 2025
© zhen (he/him) · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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United States · 2024
© Sue Brady · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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Canada · 2023
© danielalain · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Puebla | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 8 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 10 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Ruby-crowned Kinglet sighting in Phoenix on a given day, based on 2,402 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 31st most-seen of the 238 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November to January
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Ruby-crowned Kinglet in Phoenix on a given day, against under 5% in May to September, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ruby-crowned Kinglet sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
31st of 40
Of the 40 cities where we can rate Ruby-crowned Kinglet sightings, Phoenix ranks 31st at about 10%. The best odds are in Toluca (México, about 40%), San Antonio (United States, about 40%) and Austin (United States, about 30%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet that you can see in Phoenix (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are House Finch (about 80%), Curve-billed Thrasher (about 80%) and Northern Mockingbird (about 80%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ruby-crowned Kinglet is recorded against all the birds logged in Phoenix (2,402 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
