The First Western Kingbird of the Season!

One of the first of our tropical migrants has arrived in our region (who knows when they really arrived, but this was the first I've seen). The Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) typically spends the winter in Central America, migrating north to breed across the western United States and even a bit into Canada.

I was walking the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail this afternoon, seeing few birds, but on the way back to my house, this Kingbird was posing on the fence in the pasture. Within a few weeks they should be present in large numbers. I'm already missing the Sandhill Cranes, who've headed north, but our tropical visitors go a long ways towards healing the sense of loss.