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Ruby-crowned kinglet encounter



Dear Carolina Birders,

     This fall and winter I have had a lone male ruby crowned kinglet
coming to eat suet in my yard, and he  has been especially active around
the suet since the snow storm.  Yesterday evening about 5:15, I went out
in the yard in all the rain to put more suet in the forks of the twigs in
my rose of Sharon bushes so that there would be plenty for the small
birds to eat in the morning.  (The starlings don't eat the suet that is
in these lightweight forks.)   As I reached the first rose of Sharon, I
suddenly realized that the kinglet was perched on the next plant, unaware
of me, trying to get the last bit of grease left there.  His feathers
were bedraggled from the rain, and even his red cap drooped.  I very
slowly stretched out my hand holding a large piece of soft suet towards
him.  As he became aware of it, he reached out and pecked it, and then
realizing that it was attached to a person, he flew to a nearby tree
where he watched me distribute the suet in the bushes.  As I moved on to
another area, some yellow-rumped warblers flew in  for a last bite of the
day, and he joined them.  It was a real delight to have such close
contact with this little bird.

Lucretia Kinney
Chapel Hill, NC