Regulus satrapa satrapa
Status: Uncommon regular spring and fairly common fall migrant statewide. Uncommon regular winter visitor south, east central, 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). Species maps in eBird (accessed Dec 2024) indicate that breeding populations north and east of Nebraska (satrapa) and in the Rocky Mountains (amoenus) converge on the east and west ends of Nebraska during Sep and presumably both overspread the state during Oct. Few remain after mid-Jan, with most wintering southeast of Nebraska and so due northward spring migration largely avoids the state.
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 mostly south and east of Nebraska. Since migration is essentially due northward in spring, spring numbers are fewer than in fall, with a muted but discernible increase in numbers in early Apr. Departure is mostly completed by mid-Apr.
Fall: Sep 26, 27, 27 <<<>>> Jan 18, 18, 19
Earlier dates are 10 Sep 1990 Sioux Co, and 13 Sep 1911 Dawes Co (specimen, UNSM ZM10546).
For later dates away from south, east central, and east, see Winter.
Arrival begins in mid-Sep as birds from the north and east and from the Rockies expand into the east and west sections respectively of Nebraska. Birds are found statewide Oct-mid-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, and 10 at six locations statewide 13 Oct-13 Nov.
Winter: Numbers are lowest Feb-Mar; a few winter most years in the south and east (Johnsgard 1980). North of the Platte River Valley in the west-central and west, there are 27 records 20 Jan-Mar (eBird.org, accessed Dec 2024). 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 Dec 2024