Photo by Gerrit Vyn / Macaulay Library
Yesterday it was The Eastern Kingbird
...today it is the Western Kingbird.
I didn't know this bird existed until I stumbled across it yesterday while writing about the Eastern Kingbird.
The Western Kingbird is slightly smaller than the Eastern Kingbird and is found only in the western half of the U.S., plus a wee bit of southern Canada and Northern Mexico.
It is an eye-catching bird with ashy gray and bright lemon-yellow plumage.
It is a familiar summertime sight in open habitats across western North America.
This flycatcher, with the white-edged black tail, sallies forth to capture flying insects from conspicuous perches on trees , fences, or utility poles.
Like the Eastern Kingbird, it will chase away intruders, like Red-tailed Hawks, Crows or American Kestrels, with its snapping bill and flared crimson feathers that are normally unseen beneath their gray crowns.
They have taken advantage of their ongoing habitat development by taking advantage of telephone poles and other artificial structures as nesting sites, and fences and utility wires as perches for hunting.
Their range rapidly expanded during the 20th century as agricultural expansion created more suitable foraging and nesting areas.
This Kingbird is a neotropical migrant, and heads to southern Mexico, Central America, and the Pacific coast of southern Mexico through western Nicaragua in the winter.
Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder
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