Those Tropical Kingbirds! A Fun Coincidence...

Tropical Kingbird, Florence Oregon, Nov. 2022

In October of 2020 during the height of the Covid epidemic, I was beginning the habit of walking the Tuolumne River Trail in Waterford every day for exercise and birdwatching. I saw many interesting birds, over 120 species that year, but on that day in October, the bird I saw was memorable, although I didn't know it in that moment. What I thought I saw was a Western Kingbird. It was a bird that should have been far away in Central America, being a long-range migrant. It was wildly out of season. So I took pictures to document it, and sent copies to some local birders. I was told immediately that it wasn't a Western Kingbird at all, but that it was instead a Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus), a bird I hadn't even heard of before, as it was a bird more native to Mexico and southern Texas. What's more, it was the first sighting of the species ever in Stanislaus County. So that was all very exciting at the time.

Jumping forward to the present day, I was up north in Oregon, in Florence for Thanksgiving. Although there was little time for intense birding, I kept my camera close by and while walking through Old Town Florence, I saw a bird on the wires above that seemed a bit out of place. It was more yellow than the species I was expecting to see. I snapped the picture above and realized it was a Kingbird. I checked for the tail markings that would have meant Western Kingbird, but they weren't there. Cassin's Kingbirds simply aren't found that far north, and it didn't have those tail markings either. I knew that despite their rarity, some Tropical Kingbirds were known to range pretty far north along the coast. So I checked the eBird records and found that one or two had been seen in the immediate vicinity over the last few weeks. I had found the second Tropical Kingbird I had ever seen!

Tropical Kingbird at CSU Stanislaus, Nov. 2022

I got back to the motel and reported the bird and checked my email. Much to my surprise I found that a Tropical Kingbird had been sighted in Stanislaus County that very day! It was on the campus of CSU Stanislaus, where I teach a couple of courses. It was only the second sighting ever in the county, and it stayed in the area long enough for half a dozen birders to catch a view. Being six hundred miles away, I felt I had little chance of getting a look, but I headed down there today to teach my classes. Wouldn't you know, there it was right outside the Science Building. I got just one lousy shot before it flew off, but I got to see the rare visitor.

An interesting convergence of sightings...
 

The Tropical Kingbird from the Tuolumne River in 2020

The Tale of Really Lost Bird: A Tropical Kingbird (probably) on the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail

There was this bird this morning. It was way out of place, but for more reasons than I realized at the time. I'm really familiar with our summertime visitors from Central America, the Western Kingbirds (Tyrannus verticalis). They love our local prairies and I see them all the time by the dozens when I drive around. But they are a migrant and they spend winters down in Mexico and Central America. So imagine my surprise when on the 3rd of October I see a familiar yellow and gray bird on the powerline munching on a dragonfly. I knew it was the wrong time of year, so I pulled out the camera to get some documenting shots for my eBird post.

But as I was snapping the  photos, I  realized something was missing. Western Kingbirds usually have a white strip on the flanks of their tail feathers, and this bird didn't have those. So in my intimate knowledge of the local bird possibilities (rolling of eyes allowed here), I thought of a Cassin's Kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans). This would be kind of exciting because although they've been found in other parts of the county (even the MJC campus), they've never been sighted on the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail. So I took more pictures looking for the white-tipped tail feathers that identify the Cassin's. 

They weren't there. So that was kind of quandary, but I have learned that late in the season the birds feathers can become worn with use and the white coloration might not be visible. I reported the sighting on eBird as an out-of-season Western Kingbird and sent the pictures to a few birders for advice, and moved on to other things. It bothered me though that I couldn't nail down the identification.

A few hours later I get an email telling me that I had photographed what is most likely a Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus). This is even more exciting because not only has it never been seen on the Tuolumne River, it's never been seen in the entire county! This is a bird that is native to South and Central America, Mexico, the southernmost tip of Texas, and the southeastern corner of Arizona. Vagrants wander into California every year, but they stay almost entirely along the coastal zone. 

I've been wondering where this bird came from, and it occurs to me that this could be one of the sad effects of the California wildfires. I can imagine birds being driven from their habitats by these terrible and extensive fires, looking for food and water. That's my hypothesis, in any case. 

The only reason it isn't absolutely, positively a Tropical Kingbird is because there is a practically identical bird called the Couch's Kingbird, which has been seen in the state of California only about three times. The only real way to tell them apart is by hearing their song, which is very high-pitched, meaning I couldn't have heard it even if it was singing. Understandably there will be a group of birders on the trail tomorrow hoping for a sight (and a listen). I hope it's still there!

The Natural World Goes On: Western Kingbirds arrive on the Tuolumne River

Life is uncertain right now, and things are chaotic, but it is sometimes nice to know in the midst of sadness and troubles that the natural world continues, and beauty is still all around us. I've been trying to keep some balance by getting out on the Tuolumne River Trail (usually by myself of course), and today including a treat.

It's always a pleasant surprise the first time you see them. They will be here by the thousands in a week or two, but there are always those few leaders who arrive before the others. When you see one for the first time you might mistake it briefly for a mockingbird until you see the bright flash of yellow on their frontside. These are the Western Kingbirds (Tyrannus verticalis), and they've arrived on the Tuolumne River this week. I saw two of them this morning. It's a sure sign that spring has arrived (the first one seen in our county was literally on the day of the spring equinox).

The birds have been wintering in Mexico and Central America, but soon they will be all over the United States and southernmost Canada to breed during the summer.

Stay healthy all. Hiking and walking while maintaining physical distance is still allowed, and is safe if you avoid any crowds.

Hey, That's Avian Harassment! When the Little Guys Get to Win

 Allow me a few moments to relate a story...

Those who've known me in my latter fatter days will have a hard time believing that I was once half the man I am today. I mean that literally; I was 6'2" and weighed 130 pounds. That meant that I was better adapted to competing on the cross-country team as opposed to, say, football. We did okay in those days, but the real winners among our high school teams were the water polo players. Big, heavy, but buoyant, those guys fought dirty underwater and made mincemeat of the other teams in the conference.

Somewhere along the way, someone suggested a tackle football game between the monstrous water polo players and the skinny, mostly short cross-country runners. To say we looked overmatched was an under(water)statement. But come the end of the season (when injuries wouldn't be as consequential) the game was on. If you consider that I was the main lineman and tackle, you can guess at the effectiveness of both defense and offense. It was going to be a bloodbath.

But it wasn't.

We were small, nimble, and fast. When they tried a run up the middle, we mostly got knocked over, but we got up and swarmed the ball carrier. They scored a few touchdowns. When we had the ball, we linemen got knocked over every time, but the quarterback could run fast, and so could the receivers. When the game was over, we prevailed. The little guys were victorious for once!

I remembered that game from so many years ago because of two pictures I took this week. They're grainy and out of focus, but they show hawks being harassed by much smaller birds. In the first picture, a Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) is chasing and attacking a Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) above the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail in Waterford. The other shows a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) attacking a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensus) on the campus of CSU Stanislaus. The action is called mobbing, and the smaller birds are defending their nests from predation, or protecting their territory. The small agile birds are generally not in a great deal of danger because of their speed and mobility, not unlike a bunch of small thin cross-country runners playing football against big heavy water polo players.

More Tropical Spring Migrants: Western Kingbird on the Tuolumne River

I've been enjoying the arrivals of the tropical migrants in our region after the long winter. The Hooded Orioles, the Bullock's Orioles, the Yellow-headed Blackbirds, and the Rufous Hummingbirds have all shown up in recent weeks in our region. I've also seen Ash-throated Flycatchers, but don't have good photographs yet. But one of the first was the Western Kingbird, a tyrant flycatcher (Tyrannus verticalis). I actually saw the first one a month ago on March 23rd, but there were so many distractions as one tropical yellow bird after another kept showing up.

It's a thrill to see one the first time, but as the spring carries on, more arrive, and they become one of the more abundant species on the California prairie. They winter in Mexico and Central America, and migrate widely across western North America.

A Sure Sign of Spring! FOS Western Kingbird at the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

I don't usually post bird blogs back-to-back, but I was working on the last one with the Spotted Towhees yesterday and didn't quite finish because we went birding today. It took just a few minutes to post the Towhee, and I wanted to get this one posted as well, since the spring equinox occurred just four days ago. One of the sure signs of impending spring around here is the arrival of the Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis). Around here, melting snow is not an issue, and the grass has been green since the rains fell in January. So the Kingbirds are it. We were driving along the auto-tour at the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, and we saw a lone bird perched on the fencing for the elk enclosure. It never turned around to give us a better view, but the yellow breast and black narrow bill pegged it as a Kingbird. I posted the sighting at eBird, and realized just how few have been seen so far. Note in the screen capture below that there are only eight sightings in the entire region (and pretty much none north of Sacramento).

Western Kingbird sightings in 2018 so far.

Compare that sparse distribution with the total number of sightings for the whole year. There are a lot more Western Kingbird on their way north from the tropics!

PS: FOS - First-of-Season

Western Kingbird on the Tuolumne River

Western Kingbirds (Tyrannus verticalis) make quite a few appearances on my blog. I think it is because they are a migrant, and their appearance and disappearance coincides with the change of seasons (they spend winters in the tropics). There is nothing so special as a change of seasons in today's post, just what I thought was a pretty nice picture. I've been sticking to my commitment to walk nearly every day, and put in three miles along the Tuolumne River. In contrast to yesterday's cornucopia of interesting species, today I saw nothing of particular interest. Yesterday's Kingfishers, for instance, were nowhere to be seen, and neither were the Red Foxes. I got back up the stairwell at the parking area, and in fine OCD manner saw that I had taken 5,063 steps, and I could make it a nice even 5,280 (three miles) if I did a lap around the parking lot. So I did, and finally saw an interesting bird in one of the trees lining the parking area.

Western Kingbirds arriving in California: San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

One can tell when spring is coming around here in California's Great Valley. There's the greenery, of course, but (sorry, snowbound friends) it tends to be green most of the winter, the grass anyway. The real signs of spring are the comings and goings of the migratory birds. The geese and cranes are getting ready to start their long flights north to the Arctic while other birds, the tropical species, start moving in to spend the summer here.

One of the tropical birds is the Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis). They spend the winter in southern Mexico and Central America, but spend the summers in western North America, with a few going as far as southern Canada.

Our excursion to the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge a week ago included several sightings of  Kingbirds. The sun was on the wrong side for sharp pictures, but I was pleased with the backlit shot above of one taking off. I'm sure we'll have several more opportunities this summer!

Cassin's Kingbird on the West Campus: Is Spring Early?

(Updated)There were a couple of surprises on our west campus today. I was out for the usual walk at lunchtime and was out in a remote corner of the campus near the drainage pond. There was a bird in the top of the tree that looked out of place, a bird with a certain amount of attitude. It had the yellow breast of the goldfinch, but was way too large, and the beak was wrong. I started to realize that even though spring has not yet arrived, the Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) has. Postscript: Or is it a Cassin's Kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans)? On reexamination I'm seeing the white tail tips, and lack of white outside tail feathers. Either way, I'm surprised to see one this month. Update: Stanislaus County birders tell me it is a Cassin's.

The Kingbirds are tropical species who only spend summers here in the far north, so I don't know how unusual this might be. Spring may be arriving earlier these days as the climate warms. I'll be watching to see if this one has buddies near by (they tend to be very territorial in the breeding season, though). If anyone can clear this up, I'd appreciate your comments!

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.

A Last Look at the Western Kingbirds on the Tuolumne River

Oh, it's nothing bad that's going to happen to the birds, it's just that in the next few weeks they will all disappear from the area and migrate to their winter homes in Mexico and Central America. The Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) is fairly abundant in our area from March to late August or September. They breed across the western States and into southern Canada.

These are spunky little birds. They don't hesitate to harass and chase away Kestrels and Red-tailed Hawks if they feel threatened. They are also one of the few species that recognize the eggs of parasitic Cowbirds in their nests. The two that I photographed today could care less that I was hanging out. They had other things to do.

I've seen the Kingbirds at all my normal haunts, the pasture, the Tuolumne Bluffs (the future park), my campus "mini-wilderness" and others. Today was a new spot, only because I've started walking there in the last week. It's the Tuolumne River Parkway, a new river trail that will eventually follow the Tuolumne from one end of my town to the other. It's right at the boundary between the Sierra Nevada foothills and the floor of the Great Valley. The trail is still under construction, but parts are already accessible. It's where I saw the Black-chinned Hummingbird the other day, and the Gray Fox.

I'm looking forward to the completion of the trail. It will make a nice 3 mile walking loop with a half mile through the riparian environment. I've seen quite a few birds in the area already.

A Doomed Romance in One Act, and Red-winged Blackbirds at the Willms Road Pond

Well, the romance was over quickly. One display of those bright red shoulder epaulets from the Red-winged Black Bird (Agelaius phoeniceus), and the Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) was completely unimpressed. Off to greener pastures for both of them.

We were on our short excursion on Willms Road near Knights Ferry in the Sierra Nevada foothills when we stopped at our favorite little stock pond out on the California prairie. There are usually some interesting birds hanging out, including the Kingbird in the above drama. We almost always see a crowd of Red-winged Blackbirds in the tules and rushes.

The Red-winged Blackbirds are hard to photograph. It's not so difficult to get the bright flash of the red shoulder epaulettes, but unless the light is just right the black body is featureless. I got lucky with a couple of shots this time, with the sunlight reflecting off the feathers of the breast and head of this individual.

The Blackbirds have a melodic song that is sometimes a high-pitched whistle. The males seem to always be busy trying to catch the attention of the ladies. I guess it is the equivalent of catcalls from construction workers in New York...

The stock pond on Willms Road (two or three miles south of Knights Ferry on Highway 108/120) is our local barometer for the severity of the drought. Most years in late April or May, the hills here are still green, but not so much this year. Compare how it looked in March. The pond has water, but perhaps not as much as it should (it's sometimes hard to judge, as the outlet has suffered some erosion damage so it may not be possible to completely fill the pond anymore). It's one of our favorite spots for a few minutes of serenity that's not all that far from home.