A tiny greenish bird flicked from twig to twig. For a moment I thought it was only a falling leaf. But he was pecking at bits of something too small for me to see. Insects, or maybe small spiders.
I can count on seeing Ruby-crowned Kinglets on my birthday, in mid September. They pass through my Iowa woods as they head south for the winter.
They are inconspicuous birds, especially in fall. They aren’t singing — it’s not time for courtship. They seem focused mainly on food, snapping up insects or feeding on berries such as poison ivy. Males and females look alike, with the same drab greenish colors and broken white eye-ring.
When another kinglet, or a chickadee, or a warbler seems interested in the same patch of food, they sometimes takes offense. And if it’s a male, he suddenly gets very conspicuous indeed.
It’s as if his crown bursts into flames. Crimson feathers rise quivering from the top of his head. He may chase the other bird, who sees a red badge of war and is likely to leave immediately.
Where were those red feathers before?
His green feathers, layered over the red ones, concealed them.
You know how the skin on your arms or the back of your neck can suddenly go all goosebumps, and your hairs stand on end? When something scares or infuriates you, this reaction is not under voluntary control. It’s a reflex. In a moment of excitement, small muscles contract at the base of each hair. It’s part of the fight-or-flight response.
Similarly, in birds, each feather follicle also has tiny muscles. When they contract, the feather shaft lifts, making the feather rise and become visible. This happens to male Ruby-crowned Kinglets when they are agitated and their feelings are surging. (It happens to females also, but as they lack red feathers, the effect is not noticeable.)
It seems unlikely that the male even knows he has a ruby crown blazing on his head. He’s probably seen other males do it, though, and he knows instinctively that the other guy is feeling aggressive.
Perhaps he experiences a tingle on his scalp. It must be part of the thrill of being a Ruby-crowned Kinglet on a fine fall morning.
And watching him, my own scalp tingles, just a bit.
"It must be part of the thrill of being a Ruby-crowned Kinglet on a fine fall morning."
I just love that!!! (It made me tingle, too!)
Fascinating! I didn’t know the red crown was not always visible.