Guide to North American Birds

This species is the only widespread kingbird in the east. Common and conspicuous in summer, it is often seen perched jauntily on a treetop or fence wire, or sallying out with shallow fluttering wingbeats to catch an insect in mid-air. In winter in South America it takes on a different personality, living in flocks in tropical forest and dining on berries.

In open country of the west, the Western Kingbird is often seen perched on roadside fences and wires, flying out to snap up insects -- or to harass ravens, hawks, or other large birds that stray too close to the kingbird's nest. Spunky and adaptable, this flycatcher has adjusted well to advancing civilization within its range. It frequently builds its nest where wires attach to utility poles, and may be seen tending its young there even along busy city streets.

Widespread in the Caribbean, this big flycatcher enters our area mainly in Florida. There it is numerous in summer, mainly along the coasts, less common toward the north. The Gray Kingbird is often conspicuous, perching in the open and giving loud, arresting calls. Its original nesting habitat along the coast has been partly taken over by development, but the bird has adapted, and it now nests in residential areas, farmland, and even cities.

As suggested by its scientific name vociferans, Cassin's is our noisiest kingbird (except for the very localized Thick-billed). Possibly it has more need for vocal communication because it lives in denser habitat than most. Males have a strident 'dawn song,' a rising berg-berg-berg-BERG, often heard at first light but rarely later in the day, sometimes confused with song of Buff-collared Nightjar. Where present in numbers (as on wintering grounds in Mexico), flocks may gather to roost in large concentrations.

One of the most widespread birds of the American tropics, this species reaches the United States mainly in southern Arizona. There it is the quietest and most inconspicuous of the four kingbird species present. Beginning in the early 1990s a few Tropicals were also found in southern Texas, where they overlap with their close relative, Couch's Kingbird. Unlike most kingbirds, Tropicals are seldom found in flocks.

Brash and noisy, the Thick-billed Kingbird perches high in streamside sycamores, fluttering its wings as it gives voice to incredibly loud metallic calls that echo through the canyons. This big tropical flycatcher is a recent immigrant to our area, first found in 1958 in Guadalupe Canyon, on the Arizona-New Mexico border. It has since become more widespread as a summering bird north of Mexico, but it is still found mainly at a few Arizona sites.

This Texas specialty is almost identical to the Tropical Kingbird, and was considered a race of that species until the 1980s. However, their voices are quite different, and they live side by side in eastern Mexico without interbreeding. Couch's Kingbirds are common around woodland edges and near ponds and rivers in southern Texas during the summer, and a few remain all winter there.

This chunky, big-headed flycatcher is widespread in the Caribbean. It has strayed into Florida several times, mainly to the southeastern coast and the Keys; some individuals have remained for up to several weeks.