Eastern Kingbird

Tyrannus tyrannus Order: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Flycatchers (Tyrannidae)

Breeding Location:

Forest

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

White to pink with brown, lavender and gray marks

Number of Eggs:

3 - 5

Incubation Days:

16 - 18

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Twigs, weeds, and grasses.

Migration:

Migratory

Overview

Eastern Kingbird: Large flycatcher, blue-black back, wings, black tail with white terminal band, white underparts. Head is black, has inconspicuous red crown feathers visible when bird is displaying. Black bill, legs, feet. Fluttering stiff-winged direct flight with shallow wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Eastern Kingbird: Breeds from British Columbia across interior Canada to Maritime Provinces and south to northern California, central Texas, the Gulf coast, and Florida. Spends winters in the tropics. Inhabits open woodlands, clearings, rural roadsides, farms, orchards, edges of fields, streams, and suburbs.

Breeding and Nesting

Eastern Kingbird: Three to five white to pale pink eggs marked with brown, lavender, and gray are laid in a cup nest made of weeds, twigs, and grass, lined with grass and animal hair, and built far to midway out on a horizontal tree or shrub branch; also nests in cavities and human-made structures. Incubation ranges from 16 to 18 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Eastern Kingbird: Feeds on insects and fruits; often forages by hovering and pouncing on prey on the ground.

Readily Eats

Meal Worms

Vocalization

Eastern Kingbird: Call is a quick, loud, chattering "kit-kit-kitter-kitter"; also a buzzing "dzee-dzee-dzee".

Similar Species

Eastern Kingbird: Gray Kingbird has pale gray upperparts, white underparts, black mask through eyes, and lacks white terminal tail band.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Eastern Kingbird

● Song: "kit-kit-kitter-kitter"; "dzee-dzee-dzee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Eastern Kingbird: Feeds on insects and fruits; often forages by hovering and pouncing on prey on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Eastern Kingbird: Three to five white to pale pink eggs marked with brown, lavender, and gray are laid in a cup nest made of weeds, twigs, and grass, lined with grass and animal hair, and built far to midway out on a horizontal tree or shrub branch; also nests in cavities and human-made structures. Incubation ranges from 16 to 18 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Eastern Kingbird: Gray Kingbird has pale gray upperparts, white underparts, black mask through eyes, and lacks white terminal tail band.

Flight Pattern

Fluttering direct flight with shallow wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Eastern Kingbird: Breeds from British Columbia across interior Canada to Maritime Provinces and south to northern California, central Texas, the Gulf coast, and Florida. Spends winters in the tropics. Inhabits open woodlands, clearings, rural roadsides, farms, orchards, edges of fields, streams, and suburbs.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight1.5 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America