Regulus calendula
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Ruby-crowned Kinglet sighting in El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve on a given day, based on 42 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 154th most-seen of the 237 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Ruby-crowned Kinglet in El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in November 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.
41st of 45
Of the 45 parks where we can rate Ruby-crowned Kinglet sightings, El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve ranks 41st at under 5%. The best odds are in Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca (Mexico, about 70%), Grand Teton National Park (United States, about 60%) and Gros Morne National Park (Canada, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet that you can see in El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Northern Mockingbird (about 40%), House Finch (about 40%) and Savannah Sparrow (about 40%), 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 El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve (42 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
