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Ruby-crowned Kinglet Feet
The ruby-crowned kinglet has thin slender black legs. The feet have three toes pointing forward and one toe pointing back. The feet and pads of the feet are yellow. Some Ruby-crowned kinglets have very light yellow on the feet, pale enough that they almost appear to have no yellow at all. However, even those kinglets with light yellow on the top of the feet have the distinctive darker yellow on the bottom pads.
Golden-crowned Kinglet
The Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned kinglets both have thin black legs and yellow feet; however, they are distinguishable by the coloring on the heads. The Ruby-crowned male has red feathers on the top of the head and the Golden-crowned kinglet has yellow feathers on the head. The Golden-crowned kinglet also has a black stripe through the eye and another one at the base of the crest. These black stripes are lacking in the Ruby-crowned varieties. Both of these birds have an olive-green to gray body color.
Other Characteristics
The female Ruby-crowned kinglet does not have a head crest like the males, although it does have the thin black legs with yellow feet. Other than the lack of the head crest, the female is identical in color and size to the male kinglet. The female differs from both the male and female Golden-crowned kinglets as well. Both sexes of the Golden-crowned have golden crests, though the males crest is orange bordered with yellow and the females crest is all yellow lacking the orange border.
Hutton vireo
The Hutton vireo is often mistaken for the kinglets because their body color and size are very similar. However, the Hutton vireo does not have any crest coloring on its head, nor does it have yellow feet or yellow footpads. Even though the female Ruby-crowned kinglet does not have the red crest, her body color is a distinctive feature when compared to the Hutton vireo. Both sexes of the Ruby-crowned kinglet have a black smudge below the second bar on the wing that is not present on the vireo.