golden-crowned kinglet

[DAVID A LEATHERMAN]

I appreciate Brandon's summary of the CBCs and found his noting the scarcity of golden-crowned kinglets worthy of further comment.  I am not sure how many are found on Colorado CBCs in a normal year.   My sense is that most of the counts are low elevation and that a golden-crowned kinglet in winter at low elevation is always special.  But I would expect a lot more than 1 for all our counts combined!  

The reality of fire now being part of the deal in spruce-fir is in stark contrast to the historical record.  Climate change making the upper mountains warmer and drier than normal has them stressed.  Spruce beetles have accepted this invitation in the older stands and are killing huge swaths of spruce in the High Country.  Add in big fires and the combination of these two disturbance agents is becoming significant.  Is the golden-crowned kinglet a "canary" of these shocks to the upper forests?  Maybe, maybe not, but I would suggest birders take particular note of this species, especially in breeding areas.  

The predictions for Engelmann spruce habitat suitability between now and 2060 due to climate change are not good (66% reduction) (Funk and Saunders 2014).  The golden-crowned kinglet account by Paul Slingsby, Richard Roth and Kim Potter in the Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas II publication reports nationwide Breeding Bird Survey data show a decline of 2.3% per year between 1966 and 2012.  Breeding Bird Atlas III would happen in the mid-2030s if we stay on an every-20-years schedule.  That feels like a long ways away.  

In the meantime, maybe golden-crowned kinglets deserve being closely watched by us.  Just a thought.

Dave Leatherman

Fort Collins

Funk, J., and S. Sauders. 2014. Rocky Mountain forests at risk: Confronting climate-driven impacts from insects, wildfires, heat, and drought.  Report from the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, Cambridge, MA. Available at http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2014/09/Rocky-Mountain-Forests-At-Risk-Full-Report.pdf.

[Brandon]

The winter of 2020-21, the Colorado Christmas Bird Counts found Golden-crowned Kinglets on seven counts, and 28 total birds.

Brandon Percival
Pueblo West, CO

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[David Suddjian]

"In the meantime, maybe golden-crowned kinglets deserve being closely watched by us.  "

Dave, If you can help bring one down from hiding in the upper spruce canopy I'll be happy to watch it, and closely.  :-) 

David Suddjian

Ken Caryl Valley

On Tue, Mar 1, 2022 at 8:51 AM DAVID A LEATHERMAN <daleat...@msn.com> wrote:

[Steven Brown]

Hey COBirders,

I have some observation data on winter Golden-crowned Kinglets, and thought I’d share, for comparison.

I had two Christmas Bird Count areas that I walked from the 80’s to the 00’s; one was Section 16/Upper Bear Creek and the Palmer Trail above Colorado Springs, and the other on the Pikes Peak Barr Trail from the base of the Manitou Incline up to about 9200’. Both areas were primarily through mixed conifers.

I walked the Section 16 area for the Colorado Springs Christmas Count circle annually from 1985-2012. On 20 of those days I counted GCKI’s, 113/20.

Average of 5.6 counted, and a Range from 0-16 seen/heard.

On Barr Trail for the Pikes Peak CBC I walked from 1986-2005, only missing 1999. I counted 112 in 19 years, average 5.4, Range 0-27. Most of the observed birds were in the first mile or two in Douglas Fir on the slopes above the parking area and Manitou Incline.

There is an observational bias for the COS-CBC after 2005, in that I suffered some sort of threshold hearing trauma and lost the high-frequency hearing that had up until then let me detect GCKI’s. So after that, if I didn’t see ‘em, I didn’t get ‘em! I noted “0” GCKI detected from 2005-2011. They were probably there, but I missed them. I missed them on my last PPCBC in 2005 as well.

So in conclusion, for December records of Golden-crowned Kinglets in conifer woodlands around 6500-8000’, I found them almost annually from 1985-2012, most years detecting from 3-5 birds.

Also, I banded a second-year GCKI in my yard in NW Colorado Springs 3/1/2018. Not that such is noteworthy, except that the Bird Banding Lab contacted me for confirmation, as that was the only banded Colorado GCKI that they had for winter records!

Hope that was helpful, have a good week,

Steve Brown

Colo Spgs

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