| Cassin's kingbird | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Tyrannidae |
| Genus: | Tyrannus |
| Species: | T. vociferans |
| Binomial name | |
| Tyrannus vociferans Swainson, 1826 | |
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Breeding Year-round Non-Breeding | |
Cassin's kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans) is a large tyrant flycatcher native to western North America. The name of this bird commemorates the American ornithologist John Cassin.
Cassin's kingbird was formally described in 1826 by English naturalist William Swainson under the current binomial name Tyrannus vociferans. The type locality is Temascaltepec, Mexico. [2] [3] The specific epithet vociferans is Latin for "shouting". [4]
Two subspecies are recognised: [5]
Adults have a gray head with slightly darker cheeks; a dark unforked tail with a buffy fringe and gray-olive underparts. They have a pale throat and deep yellow lower breast.
Juveniles are duller and have pale edges on their wings.
Measurements:
Cassin's kingbird and the western kingbird are similar in appearance. Cassin's is a little larger than the western and the upper parts are a darker gray than the western. The most distinctive difference between these birds is that the Cassin's has a thin white edge along the distal end of the tail feathers, while the western kingbird has a thin white edge that runs along the side of the tail feathers. [8] This difference can be seen in the adjacent image.
In the summer, these birds can be found in California and from Montana to Utah, along the eastern Rocky Mountains. Their habitat includes rangelands and savannas.
These birds migrate to their winter quarters between Southern California and northern Central America. They are permanent residents in south-central Mexico, and their main wintering ranges are west of the Gulf of California on Baja California Sur, and east of the sea on the mainland of western Mexico.
They build a bulky nest on a horizontal tree limb in mid-story or the canopy of trees. The three to five spotted white eggs have an incubation period of 18 to 19 days.
The Cassin's kingbird primarily feeds on insects it preys upon from high perches by hawking. It also eats berries and fruits in lesser quantities.
The call is a high-pitched shorter followed by a longer chirp, sounding like chi-beer.
Like many other flycatchers, Cassin’s kingbirds will often pump their tail up and down while perched in order to deter predators.
In early spring, presumably after having chosen (or shown up with) their mate, they launch into a peculiar dance. With excited high-pitched calls, they hover in unison, wings outstretched, over a favorite perch. This dance takes place several times a day over several days, over several separate sites in an area covering 2 to 3 acres (8,100 to 12,100 m2). The sites chosen for the dance appear to be the same sites used as hunting perches during the spring and summer.
The eastern kingbird is a large tyrant flycatcher native to the Americas. The bird is predominantly dark gray with white underbelly and pointed wings. Eastern kingbirds are conspicuous and are commonly found in open areas with scattered trees and bushes, where they perch while foraging for insects. The Eastern kingbird is migratory, with its breeding range spread across North America and its wintering range in Central and South America.
The western kingbird is a large tyrant flycatcher found throughout western environments of North America, as far south as Mexico.
Tyrannus is a genus of small passerine birds in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae that are native to the Americas. The majority are named as kingbirds.
The scissor-tailed flycatcher, known as swallow-tailed flycatcher or scissorstail, is a long-tailed insectivorous bird of the genus Tyrannus, whose members are collectively referred to as kingbirds. Its scientific name used to be Muscivora forficata until it was changed to Tyrannus forficatus. It is found in North and Central America, and is Oklahoma's State Bird.
The tropical kingbird is a large tyrant flycatcher. This bird breeds from southern Arizona and the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the United States through Central America, South America as far as south as central Argentina and eastern Peru, and on Trinidad and Tobago. Birds from the northernmost and southern breeding areas migrate to warmer parts of the range after breeding.
The gray kingbird or grey kingbird, also known as pitirre, petchary or white-breasted kingbird, is a passerine bird in the tyrant flycatchers family Tyrannidae. The species was first described on the island of Hispaniola, then called Santo Domingo, thus the dominicensis name.
The pied water tyrant is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds in tropical South America from Panama and Trinidad south to Bolivia.
Couch's kingbird is a passerine tyrant flycatcher of the kingbird genus. It is found from southern Texas along the Gulf Coast to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, Belize and northern Guatemala. It is also found in the lower stretches of the Rio Grande Valley.
The common tody-flycatcher or black-fronted tody-flycatcher is a very small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds from southern Mexico to northwestern Peru, eastern Bolivia and southern, eastern and northeast Brazil.
Myiarchus is a genus of birds in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae. Most species are fairly similar in appearance and are easier to separate by voice than by plumage.
The fork-tailed flycatcher is a passerine bird of the tyrant flycatcher family and is a member of a genus typically referred to as kingbirds. Named for the distinguishably long, forked tail, particularly in males, fork-tailed flycatchers are seen in shrubland, savanna, lightly forested and grassland areas, from southern Mexico to south past Argentina. They are most frequently observed sitting on conspicuous perches waiting for flying arthropods to fly past, they then sally out, eat their prey, and return to their perches. Northern populations near southern Mexico tend to be permanent residents, while fork-tailed flycatchers that live further south are migrants with a reputation for wandering to as far north as New Brunswick, Canada.
The thick-billed kingbird is a large bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers.
The flammulated flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae. It was formerly placed in the monotypic genus Deltarhynchus but was moved to the genus Ramphotrigon based on genetic analysis. It is endemic to the dry deciduous forest, arid thorn forest, and scrubby woodland of Mexico’s Pacific coast. The flycatcher is an olive to gray-brown bird with a streaked, pale gray chest, white throat, black bill, dark gray feet, and dark brown wings. It is a skulking bird that typically remains hidden in the underbrush. It feeds by gleaning insects off of leaves and twigs that it spots from an exposed perch. The female lays approximately three eggs in a nest made in a shallow tree cavity.
The loggerhead kingbird is a species of sub-oscine passerine bird belonging to the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. This species is found in wooded habitats in the islands of the northern Caribbean, with records of vagrants from Florida.
