A Kingbird Kind Of Morning

For the past few days Western Kingbirds have been very active on Antelope Island. Though I’m still trying to interpret some of their behaviors they appear to be in the process of selecting mates and/or nest sites.

Continue reading

Some Western Kingbird Shots I Like

This past spring I spent some wonderful time with a pair of Western Kingbirds as they constructed their nest. Well, truth be told the female actually did all of the heavy work but the male did his part by watching her closely and making sure she did everything just right…

Continue reading

The Seldom Seen Red Crown Patch Of The Western Kingbird

Many are surprised to learn that the Western Kingbird has a reddish-orange crown patch that bisects the top center of its head. The patch is usually kept concealed but occasionally they will quickly flash the patch at unpredictable moments, especially when other birds invade their territory. I’ve featured the crown patch on my blog previously but earlier this summer I had my best look at it so I thought I’d revisit the subject this morning.

Continue reading

Male Western Kingbird Greeting His Lady

Male Western Kingbirds take no part in nest construction or incubation. Nor do they feed the female while she’s on the nest (she leaves the nest to feed several times per day). But he’s always there, seeming to offer encouragement and watch carefully over the proceedings.

Continue reading

Birds Using Bison Hair As Nesting Material

For millennia a variety of North American bird species used bison hair during nest construction but when the “buffalo” was brought to the brink of extinction by hunters in the late 1800’s that resource was essentially gone. Today there are relatively few places where bison hair is available to birds and Antelope Island is one of them.

Continue reading

Nest-building Western Kingbird

Yesterday morning we photographed an industrious female Western Kingbird as she worked at constructing her nest. In this species the sexes are similar but only the female builds the nest. The male hung around nearby as he watched over the laborious construction process and offered his mate encouragement (that was good of him don’t you think?).

Continue reading

Western Kingbird Wing Flutter

This morning we decided to get out of our rut a little bit (actually, I tend to like ruts) and look for birds somewhere new so we headed to the high country of Morgan County.  We figured it would be a nice respite from the heat, and it was.  We saw some beautiful country and quite a few birds, though most of them were a challenge to get close to. One thing really surprised me.  I don’t believe I’ve ever seen such high concentrations of Black-headed Grosbeaks and Western Kingbirds anywhere.  Both species were picking off bugs along the road and it was a delight to see so many of them.    1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This Western Kingbird was performing the “wing flutter” that kingbirds are so well-known for.  It’s an aggressive behavior that is usually directed at other kingbirds, as was the case here.  I liked the pose and the way the Scrub Oak framed the bird and helped to break up the blue sky background. Ron

Continue reading