This small, round songbird is a familiar sight in many coniferous forests, where its high-pitched song sounds like a tiny car trying (unsuccessfully) to start.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

(Regulus satrapa)

Habitat Ecology

• The Golden-crowned Kinglet is associated with old, dense conifer forests including Douglas fir, western hemlock, mountain hemlock, and spruce.¹ It is also common in spruce-aspen mixedwood forests from >75 years² to >140 years old.³

Response to Forest Management

• This species’ close association with forests older than rotation age makes it highly sensitive to harvest. It was absent from stands up to 33 years following clearcutting^1,4 and declined following harvests with 20–70% retention,^1,5 smallscale harvests including uniform single-tree removal,6 and moderate to heavy thinning.^7,8
• Riparian buffers >30–35 m may support higher occupancy than narrower buffers ≥10 years postharvest.^9–11 Varying buffer widths with wider areas serving as retention anchors may benefit this species.
• Golden-crowned Kinglet abundance increases in areas of mountain pine beetle, spruce beetle, and spruce budworm infestation.¹

Stand-level Recommendations

• Retention harvest is overall considered less effective than old forest stands or set-asides, given this species’ declines even in harvested blocks with very high retention. The retention of features including large-diameter conifers will, however, likely improve the structural complexity and long-term habitat value of regenerating stands.
• Riparian buffers >30–35 m wide may help support this species, however they will likely occur at lower densities than in unharvested forest.¹²

Landscape-level Recommendations

• The primary strategy for conserving this species is the maintenance of conifer-dominated forest stands exceeding the rotation age on the landscape.
• Large continuous stands and/or strong connectivity among stands, as would occur under an NRV scenario, will likely be of higher quality than fragmented or isolated forest patches, as this species has shown edge sensitivity¹³ and reluctance to cross gaps >25 m wide.¹⁴

References

1. Swanson, D. L., Ingold, J. L. & Galati, R. 2012. Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa), version 2.0. in The Birds of North America (Rodewald, P. G., ed.) Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA. Available online: https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.301
2. Schieck, J. & Song, S. J. 2006. Changes in bird communities throughout succession following fire and harvest in boreal forests of western North America: literature review and meta-analyses. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 36: 1299–1318. Available online: https://doi.org/10.1139/x06-017
3. Cumming, E. E. & Diamond, A. W. 2002. Songbird community composition versus forest rotation age in Saskatchewan boreal mixedwood forest. The Canadian Field-Naturalist 116: 69–75. Available online: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/109250
4. Leston, L., Bayne, E. & Schmiegelow, F. 2018. Long-term changes in boreal forest occupancy within regenerating harvest units. Forest Ecology and Management 421: 40–53. Available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.02.029
5. Lance, A. N. & Phinney, M. 2001. Bird responses to partial retention timber harvesting in central interior British Columbia. Forest Ecology and Management 142: 267–280.
6. Leupin, E. E., Dickinson, T. E. & Martin, K. 2004. Resistance of forest songbirds to habitat perforation in a high-elevation conifer forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 34: 1919–1928. Available online: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/x04-057
7. Hayes, J. P., Weikel, J. M. & Huso, M. M. P. 2003. Response of birds to thinning young Douglas-fir forests. Ecological Applications 13: 1222–1232. Available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/02-5068
8. Bayne, E. M. & Nielsen, B. 2011. Temporal trends in bird abundance in response to thinning of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta). Canadian Journal of Forest Research 41: 1917–1927. Available online: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/x11-113#.Wftr0NCnFzB
9. Pearson, S. F., Giovanini, J., Jones, J. E. & Kroll, A. J. 2015. Breeding bird community continues to colonize riparian buffers ten years after harvest. PLoS ONE 10: e0143241. Available online: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0143241
10. Pearson, S. F. & Manuwal, D. A. 2001. Breeding bird response to riparian buffer width in managed Pacific Northwest Douglas-fir forests. Ecological Applications 11: 840–853. Available online: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3061120
11. Hagar, J. C., Howlin, S. & Ganio, L. 2004. Short-term response of songbirds to experimental thinning of young Douglas-fir forests in the Oregon Cascades. Forest Ecology and Management 199: 333–347.
12. Hagar, J. C. 1999. Influence of riparian buffer width on bird assemblages in western Oregon. The Journal of Wildlife Management 63: 484–496. Available online: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3802633
13. Hejl, S. J., Mack, D. E., Young, J. S., Bednarz, J. C. & Hutto, R. L. 2002. Birds and changing landscape patterns in conifer forests of the north-central Rocky Mountains. Studies in Avian Biology 25: 113–129. Available online: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Richard_Hutto/publication/267211708…
14. Rail, J.-F., Darveau, M., Desrochers, A. & Huot, J. 1997. Territorial responses of boreal forest birds to habitat gaps. The Condor 99: 976–980. Available online: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1370150