Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.
Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
Adult. Photo: Morris Finkelstein/Audubon Photography Awards
Great Kiskadee
Pitangus sulphuratus
| Conservation status | Numbers stable or increasing in Texas. May be increasing and spreading in tropics as rain forest is cut, as it does well around clearings, edges, and second growth. |
|---|---|
| Family | Tyrant Flycatchers |
| Habitat | Streamside thickets, groves, orchards, towns. In its limited Texas range, found most commonly in open woodlands near water, but may occur in any habitat with good-sized trees. In the tropics, occurs widely in many semi-open habitats, usually avoiding dense unbroken forest. |
Photo Gallery
Feeding Behavior
Forages in various ways. Often flies out from a perch to catch flying insects in the air. Will perch on branch low over water and then plunge into water for fish, tadpoles, or insects. Often hops about in trees and shrubs to eat berries.
Eggs
4, sometimes 2-5. Creamy white, dotted with dark brown and lavender. Details of incubation are not well known. Young: Apparently both adults help to feed the young in the nest. Development of young and age at first flight not well known.
Young
Apparently both adults help to feed the young in the nest. Development of young and age at first flight not well known.
Diet
Omnivorous. Feeds mostly on large insects, such as beetles, wasps, grasshoppers, bees, and moths; but also eats lizards, mice, baby birds, frogs, tadpoles, and small fish. Also eats many berries and small fruits, and some seeds.
Nesting
Breeding behavior is not well known. Both members of pair actively defend nesting territory against intruders of their own species, and are quick to mob any predators that come close. Nest site is usually among dense branches of a tree or large shrub, 6-50' above the ground, usually 10-20' up. Nest is a large bulky structure, more or less round, with the entrance on the side. Nest is built of grass, weeds, strips of bark, Spanish moss, and other plant fibers, and lined with fine grasses.
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- All Seasons - Common
- All Seasons - Uncommon
- Breeding - Common
- Breeding - Uncommon
- Winter - Common
- Winter - Uncommon
- Migration - Common
- Migration - Uncommon
Songs and Calls
Loud, piercing kis-ka-dee; also an incessant, shrill chattering.How Climate Change Will Reshape the Range of the Great Kiskadee
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Climate threats facing the Great Kiskadee
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.
