My strongest early memory of Western Kingbirds goes back to the late 70’s and early 80’s when I was teaching summer classes (Junior Science Academy) for the Utah Museum of Natural History. We routinely took our students on field trips to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and climbed the 100′ observation tower for an expansive view of the refuge. Western Kingbirds often nested in that rickety tower and we would have to pass within a few feet of them as we ascended. Those nesting birds made quite an impression on all of us.
The floods of 1983 essentially destroyed the refuge, including the new visitor center and other buildings, so the observation tower no longer exists. But my memories of those scary ascents up the shaky tower (I’ve always had moderate acrophobia) followed by 36 rambunctious young students in groups of 12 have never left me and I always associate them with Western Kingbirds.
They’ve been one of my favorite birds ever since and this time of year I anticipate their return with great fondness, thus today’s post.
1/4000, f/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
I stumbled across this image last night and my Western Kingbird memories started whirling in my mind again. It was taken in June of last year as the kingbird took off from sagebrush on Antelope Island.
1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
The previous June I spent some time with a mated pair of Western Kingbirds as they constructed their nest within less than 10′ of a road and parking lot on the island – obviously the birds were acclimated to human activity to choose such a nesting site.
Typical of the species the female did all of the nest construction while the male “supervised”. Here he’s trying to balance on a sagebrush twig as he waits for his mate to return with more nesting material. He watched the entire process with great interest and spent much of his time chasing off other avian intruders.
1/3200, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
The female was tireless in her nest construction duties. Here she’s leaving the nest after delivering a twig.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
When the female would approach the nesting site with a twig the male would often greet her with a pose like this. At least he appreciated all of the work she was doing…
Western Kingbirds are one of the relatively few bird species that have generally benefited from human activity. Their breeding range has expanded since the late 19th century and population increases appear to be due to erection of buildings, ornamental tree planting and clearing of dense forests.
But this nest was eventually abandoned so if that nesting failure was due to human activity it was ironic. The adjacent parking lot was at a trailhead so who knows what some thoughtless human on foot (I never left my vehicle while photographing them from a distance with my super telephoto lens) might have done if they spotted the obvious nest.
On the other hand the nest failure may very well have been natural as I’ve seen accipiters, harriers and ravens harassing other nesting birds in the same general area.
Ron
Note to fans of Terry Tempest Williams: Terry worked at the UMNH at the same time I did (we were and are dear friends) and she would sometimes accompany us on our field trips to Bear River MBR. In the summer of 1983 at the same time the Great Salt Lake flood was destroying the refuge her mother was dying of breast cancer. Those experiences, among others, formed the basis of her classic book “Refuge – An Unnatural History of Family and Place”.
If you’ve never read it I highly recommend that you give it a look.
Wonderful series Ron, thanks for sharing!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
The first shot embodies how it’s going to feel when I take off for the first time and fly…it’s going to be GREAT!!! I’m going to circle and swoop and glide and ride the thermals and dive straight down and skim just inches above the ground, then zoom to the top of the biggest tree….and look around!!!
Let me know when you schedule your maiden flight, Patty, and I’ll be there to get the takeoff shot. Hopefully you’ll tell me your direction of launch ahead of time so I don’t clip any body parts…
OK!!!
Patty, hope you don’t make the dreaded SPLAT sound like I did 😀
When you take your maiden flight I hope you will take pity on the rest of us and explain how it is done. Not only do I want to soar, to swoop, to glide and dive there are one or two people I would dearly love to crap on. Before soaring away…
Only one or two??? You do live a charmed life, EC.
Once again you made me LOL. You’re making a habit of that…
YES!YES! YES! Ellie Baby…How could I possibly forget the joy of “depositing”!!! In fact. I have a VERY rich presidential wannabee in mind right now…one who is obviously a nature lover, so much so that he carries a cute little red fox every where goes…on his head, no less!!!
Heh, heh! I figure the first key is feathers–nice big ones.
Drat you. I need another book the way I need to pay more taxes and the way I need to listen to another politician. And I have weakened (of course) and ordered it.
Love your kingbirds (also of course) and am tickled by the male standing to welcome his hard-working mate back to the nest.
Made me giggle, EC. Not just smile, but giggle (but I’ll call it chuckle, it sounds more manly…).
I hope you enjoy the book. I strongly suspect that you will.
EC sounds like we’re kindred spirits. Folks who have helped me move keep repeating, “Library! Library! Library!” like it’s a mantra or something 😀
Oh yes. I am a bookaholic. An unashamed bookaholic.
So many books, so little time…
Wonderful bird beautifully photographed. The last one is my favourite.
I hope you know that I too find your camera techs very very useful although not saying it very often.
I know you do, Jorge. In fact I often think of you when I’m writing them and whenever I leave them out for some reason I feel guilty because I know you’ll notice that they’re missing. 🙂
What astounding beauty…sigh (and insert the standing Oh WOW!). In my world, I’m not sure there’s anything more magical than watching birds raise their families. We are so much more alike than we are different, but I think birds are just more elegant in their day-to-day lives.
As for Terry Tempest Williams, please extend my sincere thanks for her words. They, too, are magical.
Oh and here’s another from her:
Once upon a time,
When women were birds,
There was the simple understanding
That to sing at dawn
And to sing at dusk
Was to heal the world through joy.
The birds still remember what we have forgotten,
That the world is meant to be celebrated.
– Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds
Terry has a way with words, doesn’t she, Laura? And she has a truly huge heart which she wears on her sleeve. With her, what you see is what you get and what you get is special indeed.
I love that in a writer, Ron. And yes, she is somebody really, REALLY special and she’s always on my top ten list when recommending writers to other birders. I’m hoping to use the words I shared as an introduction to one of the chapters in my book, assuming I can ever wrascle the darn thing into compliance with some form of order. 😀 It’s in the cumbersome, not-cooperative phase at the moment, but the molt approaches rapidly! LOL!
And to think that you once wanted ME to endure the pain of writing a book, Laura! I think not and your words reinforce that decision… 🙂
HAHAHA Ron! Hate it when my words come back to bite me in the behind, but you’ve got photos! I only have a few since I don’t have enough hands/brain cells to hunt a bird AND take iffy snapshots! So all that space you’d use up with nifty photos, I’ve got to make up words to describe what’s going on…LOL! What’s that about a picture being worth 1,000 words? Gotcha!
Beautiful shots, Ron! The Western Kingbird is a favorite of mine. For the last four years they have nested right outside our back door in a fir tree about 10 feet from our deck. I love to sit and watch them. They don’t seem to mind us at all, even when I’m out playing fetch with the poodles – although we don’t play around the tree. They usually have 3 or 4 young ones, and it’s so exciting to watch the whole process. The male sits right on top of the fir while the female works. He doesn’t mind us, but goes after any other bird that would dare approach his tree! (It’s going to be interesting to watch the kingbirds and the magpies, who are building a nest in the next tree. The kingbirds haven’t arrived yet.) Your photos are amazing! I look forward to your blog every day.
Jane, the behaviors you describe are exactly what I observed with these kingbirds. It was fun to read your comment.
I’m so enjoying your photos. Even though I love watching birds and seeing them as we travel, I know nothing about them or their habits. Thanks for the information on each picture and I also love reading the others comments. I’m learning from you all.
Carol
This place is a learning experience for all of us, Carol. Thank you.
A friend of mine recommended Terry’s book to me several years ago. It is wonderful. Not just because I love birds but because it is beautifully written. You can find one on Amazon for $4.
I agree, Marya. That book struck a lot of chords with me, some of them personal with my family but others because of her love for Bear River MBR and its birds.
Beautiful shots, Ron. 🙂 We get both Western and Eastern here. The Western stay more at the edge of the yard and get rambunctious at times while the Eastern are more out in the field, closer to the creek, and quieter. They aren’t here yet tho Robins (a bit late), Killdeer and Redwing Blackbirds are starting to arrive so spring is here even if early.
You describe some of the behavioral differences between the two species well, Judy. Thank you.
I also love Western Kingbirds–I actually found your blog when looking up information about them on the web while I was at Dinosaur National Monument a few years ago. Your images and narrative are wonderful and I hope it was not thoughtless human activity that caused the nest to fail. I’m surprised by the behavior of some photographers. While observing the Great Gray Owl in last month, there were a number of people who were just chatting away with broken volume controls. I don’t understand it…why wait for hours for a bird to make an appearance and then make so much noise that it is more likely that it won’t? Thanks again for the great post!
“I’m surprised by the behavior of some photographers.”
I know EXACTLY what you mean, Sharon. I’ve seen behaviors from photographers (and birders) that just blow my mind.
For some, the photo (or the tick off the birding list) is all they care about.
Very good shots of a favorite visitor we sometimes would see when I lived along the shore of southern MA. Even though Eastern Kingbird is our normal migrant and nester, sometimes in the fall we would see this fellow. It was always a treat when that happened.
Thanks for sharing.
Dick, we’re lucky in that we get both Eastern and Western Kingbirds around here, though the Eastern Kingbird generally nests further north and east.
Ron:
Thank you again! Love the beautiful photos, even more love the behavior. Thank you also for the photography lessons, always including your camera and lens settings. Great stuff!
Richard, I appreciate the feedback regarding my camera techs. It takes extra effort to include them so I appreciate knowing that they’re helpful to some folks at least…