Western Kingbird
Tyrannus verticalis
Summary 5
The western kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) is a large tyrant flycatcher.
Behavior 6
The name kingbird is derived from their "take-charge" behavior. These birds aggressively defend their territory, even against much larger birds such as hawks. They will attack humans, livestock and pets, when they think their young are in danger. Kingbirds make a sturdy cup nest in a tree or shrub, sometimes on top of a pole or other man-made structure. Three to five eggs, white, creamy, or pinkish with heavy blotches of brown, black, or lavender, are laid and incubated for 12 to 14 days.Due to the small size of the nest, and the chicks rapid rate of growth, most of them are pushed out of the nest, due to overcrowding, before they are fully feathered, and able to fly.
These birds migrate in flocks to Florida and the Pacific coast of southern Mexico and Central America.
They wait on an open perch and fly out to catch insects in flight, sometimes hovering and then dropping to catch food on the ground. They also eat berries.
Distribution and Habitat 6
Their breeding habitat is open areas in western North America. The increase in trees throughout the Great Plains during the past century due to fire suppression and tree planting facilitated the range expansion of the western kingbird as well as range expansions of many other species of birds.
They wait on an open perch and fly out to catch insects such as bees, robber flies, winged ants, spiders, and grasshoppers. They are also known to eat berries, buckthorn/sumac, and poison ivy seeds.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Maggie.Smith, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.flickr.com/photos/12599017@N08/3402745004
- (c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/18024068@N00/4516504652
- (c) Don Loarie, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/loarie/13611187954/
- (c) Don Loarie, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Don Loarie
- Adapted by Desmon M Dunn from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannus_verticalis
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_kingbird
