Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

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Eastern Kingbird, crown patch visible

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A large dark flycatcher of fields and other open areas, the Eastern Kingbird is a common and widespread species. Despite its name, its range extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast.

Description

• Medium-sized songbird.
• Head and back dark.
• Throat, chest, and belly white.
• White tip to dark tail.

• Size: 19-23 cm (7-9 in)
• Wingspan: 33-38 cm (13-15 in)
• Weight: 33-55 g (1.16-1.94 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes alike in plumage. Male tends to sit more upright and to keep its crown feathers in a slight crest. Female can raise her crest, but tends to keep her head more rounded and to sit more horizontally on a perch.

Sound

Song a series of high-pitched sputtering notes followed by a downslurred buzzy "zeer." "Ti-t-t-t-ti-zeer." Also utters the "zeer's alone.

Conservation Status

Widespread and common, but populations may be decreasing.

Other Names

Tyran tritri (French)
Pitirre americano, Tirano viajero (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The Eastern Kingbird is highly aggressive toward nest predators and larger birds. Hawks and crows are attacked regularly. A kingbird was observed to knock a Blue Jay out of a tree and cause it to hide under bush to escape the attack.

• During the summer the Eastern Kingbird eats mostly flying insects and maintains a breeding territory that it defends vigorously against all other kingbirds. In the winter along the Amazon, however, it has a completely different lifestyle: it travels in flocks and eats fruit.

• Parent Eastern Kingbirds feed their young for about seven weeks. Because of this relatively long period of dependence, a pair generally raises only one brood of young per nesting season.

Sources used to construct this page:

Murphy, M. T. 1996. Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus). In The Birds of North America, No. 253 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.