Couch's Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird: Large flycatcher, olive-green upperparts, gray head, dark eye patch, white throat, bright yellow underparts. Wings and slightly forked tail are dark. Black legs and feet. Difficult to distinguish from Tropical Kingbird. Slow fluttering flight on shallow wing beats.

● Song: "s'wee-s'wee-s'wee-s'wee-I-chu", "breeeear", "kip".

● Foraging & Feeding: Couch's Kingbird: Eats flying and crawling insects, berries, and fruits; perches on tall trees to hawk insects.

● Breeding & nesting: Couch's Kingbird: Three to five pink to buff eggs with brown and lavender blotches are laid in a nest made of leaves, twigs, moss, weeds, and bark strips, lined with finer materials, and built 8 to 25 feet above the ground on a tree limb. Incubation ranges from 14 to 16 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Couch's Kingbird: Tropical Kingbird is identical in appearance but has distinctive twittering call. Western and Cassin's kingbirds have smaller, thinner bills, paler gray ear patches, and different voices.

Flight Pattern