Couch's Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird family group with one adult (center) and two juveniles, Bentsen State Park, TX, 19 June 2004.

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A large, brightly colored flycatcher of southern Texas and Mexico, the Couch's Kingbird is very similar to the more widespread Tropical Kingbird. The two were considered the same species for nearly one hundred years, but they can be separated by voice and very subtle morphological characters.

Cool Facts

• Song is the best field character to distinguish Couch's Kingbird from Tropical Kingbird. The shallower notch in the Couch's tail and the greener back are difficult to detect. In the hand, the slightly larger Couch's has a longer wing, but a shorter bill than the Tropical Kingbird.

Description

• Size: 20-24 cm (8-9 in)
• Weight: 40 g (1.41 ounces)

• Medium-sized songbird.
• Back grayish green.
• Underparts yellow.
• Head gray.
• Plain blackish brown tail.

• Wings rounded.
• Faint dark mask around eyes.
• Throat white, shading to gray on upper chest.
• Long, thick black bill.
• Pale edging to wing and tail feathers.
• Tail blackish, long and slightly notched.
• Concealed reddish orange patch on top of head.
• Legs black.
• Eyes black.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, except male has more notched wing feathers (not visible).

Immature

Similar to adult except duller overall, red in crown is reduced or lacking, and wingtip feathers lack notches.

Similar Species

• Very similar to Tropical Kingbird; best separated by voice.
• Cassin's Kingbird has darker gray head, back and breast; more contrasting white chin, and white tip to tail.
• Western Kingbird has white outer edges to its black tail, a grayer chest, and a smaller bill.
• For a more detailed discussion of how to distinguish the yellow kingbird species, with photographs of specimens in the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates, go to http://birds.cornell.edu/crows/kingbirdsX.htm.

Sound

A nasal "bihk" or "pik" and a buzzy, nasal "pitweeer," often combined, "pik pik pik pitweeer."

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Summer Range

Resident from southern Texas to Belize.

Winter Range

May leave northern portion of range in some winters.

Habitat

Lives in thorn forest, brushy clearings in tropical forest, abandoned agricultural fields overgrown with shrubs, riparian areas, and suburbs.

Food

Flying insects, some fruit.

Behavior

Foraging

Aerial hawking from elevated perch.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Untidy bowl of twigs or bark strips, lined with plant down or fine rootlets. Placed in islotated tree or tree at edge of forest.

Egg Description

Cream or rich buff with dark spots.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless and with sparse buff down.

Conservation Status

Increased range and populations in Texas slightly over last 100 years.

Other Names

Tyran de Couch (French)
Tirano silbador (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Brush, T. 1999. Couch's Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii). In The Birds of North America, No. 437 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.