Regulus satrapa satrapa
Status: Fairly common regular spring and fall migrant statewide. Uncommon regular winter visitor south and east, rare casual elsewhere.
Documentation: Specimen: satrapa: UNSM ZM6718, 13 Apr 1901 Lincoln, Lancaster Co.
Taxonomy: Six subspecies have been recognized, four north of Mexico (Swanson et al 2020): olivaceus, breeding from coastal southeast Alaska to southwest Oregon and wintering coastally from southwest British Columbia to southwest California, apache, breeding and wintering in Arizona, New Mexico and into Mexico, amoenus, from southern Alaska and southern Yukon south in the Rocky Mountains (including the Black Hills of South Dakota), and satrapa, breeding from northern Alberta to Newfoundland and south in mountains to North Carolina and wintering across southern Canada south to Florida and northeast Mexico and west to central Colorado. Phillips (1991) included the Rocky Mountains subspecies amoenus in apache.
Only subspecies satrapa has been recorded in Nebraska (Rapp et al 1958) although the Rocky Mountains subspecies amoenus probably occurs in migration in the Panhandle (AOU 1957).
Spring: winter <<<>>> Apr 29, 29, 30
Later dates are 11 May 2001 Dixon Co, and 17 May 2023 Ash Hollow SHP, Garden Co.
This species winters in southern and eastern Nebraska. There is a discernible increase in numbers in the east in early to mid-Mar as northward movement begins there. Departure is mostly completed by mid-Apr.
Fall: Sep 29, 30, Oct 1 <<<>>> winter
Earlier dates are 7 Sep 2012 Platte Co, 10 Sep 1990 Sioux Co, and 13 Sep 1911 Dawes Co (specimen, UNSM ZM10546).
Arrival is in early Oct, and numbers are highest in Oct-early Jan. CBC data indicate that by late Dec most birds are in the south and east, although occasionally good numbers are found in the North Platte River Valley; 56 were found on the Lake McConaughy, Keith Co CBC 2 Jan 2000 and 29 on the same CBC 2 Jan 2016.
- High counts: 22 at Glenn Cunningham Lake, Douglas Co 29 Oct 2022, 10 at Branched Oak Lake, Lancaster Co 25 Nov 2021, 10 at Wehrspann Lake, Sarpy Co 13 Oct 2022, and 10 at Fontenelle Forest, Sarpy Co 4 Nov 2023.
Winter: Low numbers winter most years in the south and east (Johnsgard 1980), but north of the Platte River Valley in the west-central, and in the west, there are only nine records Jan-Feb (eBird.org, accessed Mar 2024): 1 Jan 2018 Sheridan Co, 1 Jan 2021 Cherry Co, 5 Jan 2024 Gilbert-Baker WMA, Sioux Co, 5 Jan 2024 Chadron SP, 9 Jan 2024 Deadhorse Road, Dawes Co, 17 Jan 2009 Thomas Co, 31 Jan 2022 Box Butte Co, 3 Feb 2018 Kimball Co, and 15 Feb 2014 Sheridan Co. Rosche (1982) stated in the northwest “very few of the individuals that attempt to winter are apparently successful, as there are only four early January records and two for February” (dates not given).
- High counts: 83 on the Lincoln, Lancaster Co CBC 18 Dec 2010, 65-70 at Regency Lake, Omaha, Douglas Co 16 Dec 2002, and 56 at Lake Ogallala, Keith Co 2 Jan 2000.
Comments: A report of one that had been banded 11 Nov 1987 and recovered 24 Jun 1988 in Lancaster Co is questionable; a series of similarly unlikely summer banding dates of Rusty Blackbirds in southeast Nebraska is discussed under that species.
Images
Abbreviations
CBC: Christmas Bird Count
SHP: State Historical Park
UNSM: University of Nebraska State Museum
Literature Cited
American Ornithologists’ Union [AOU]. 1957. The AOU Check-list of North American birds, 5th ed. Port City Press, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Johnsgard, P.A. 1980. A preliminary list of the birds of Nebraska and adjacent Great Plains states. Published by the author, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Phillips, A.R. 1991. The known birds of North and Middle America. Part 2. Published by the author, Denver, Colorado, USA.
Rapp, W.F. Jr., J.L.C. Rapp, H.E. Baumgarten, and R.A. Moser. 1958. Revised checklist of Nebraska birds. Occasional Papers 5. Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union, Crete, Nebraska, USA.
Rosche, R.C. 1982. Birds of northwestern Nebraska and southwestern South Dakota, an annotated checklist. Cottonwood Press, Crawford, Nebraska, USA.
Swanson, D.L., J.L. Ingold, and R. Galati. 2020. Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.gockin.01.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2024. Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 13 Mar 2024