Here you see what appears to be a golden-crowned kinglet (i.e., a small king wearing a crown) reigning over alder bush catkins.
However, perhaps this one should be dubbed a “yellow-crowned queenlet” because the bird apparently is female. (Unlike males, female GCKs have no orange in the crown.)
Orange-crowned kinglets are about four inches long and weigh less than an ounce. They’re our second-smallest birds. Only our ruby-throated hummingbirds are slightly (1/4”) smaller. The kinglets seem mostly to eat live insects when they can and insect larvae when they have to.
This kinglet may have migrated here to breed or perhaps was just resting on her way farther north, but she also may be a year-long resident. How these little unobtrusive neighbors survive our winters is one of our wonders. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 11, 2025.)