Western Kingbird: Overview & Identification

The Western Kingbird is an eye-catching bird with lemon-yellow and ashy gray plumage. They’re a familiar sight during summertime, and you’ll likely see Western Kingbirds in open habitats all across western North America.

These large flycatchers set out to catch flying insects from their conspicuous perches on utility lines or in trees, flashing their black tails with white edges. Western Kingbirds are quite aggressive, and they’ll frequently chase and scold intruders away from their territory with their flared crimson feathers and snapping bills that are typically hidden under their crowns.

How to ID An Western Kingbird

There are four keys to identifying Western Kingbirds:

1. Size and Shape

Western Kingbirds are quite large for flycatchers. They have big heads, broad shoulders, long wings, heavy bills, and a medium square-tipped tail.

Length: 7.9 to 9.4 inches
Weight: 1.3 to 1.6 ounces
Wingspan: 15 to 16.1 inches

2. Color Pattern

Western Kingbirds have a yellow belly, whitish throat and chest, and gray heads. Their tail is mostly black, but their outer tail feathers are white, which are particularly conspicuous during flight.

3. Behavior

You’ll often see Western Kingbirds perched upright on utility lines and fences as they wait to hawk insects out of the air or fly off to pick up prey from the ground. These birds will ferociously defend their territories with highly vocal, wing-fluttering attacks. This vocalization includes a long series of bubbling, squeaky calls and a single accented kip note.

4. Habitat

Western Kingbirds typically live in open habitats, perching on trees, fences, and utility lines. They much prefer lowlands and valleys, like deserts, grasslands, agricultural fields, sagebrush, and open woodlands. You’ll typically find Western Kingbirds below 7,000 feet of elevation.

Where to Find Western Kingbirds

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During the spring and summer, the large, aggressive, flycatching Western Kingbirds with their lemon-and-gray plumage are everywhere, choosing open habitats all across western North America. With their squeaky calls and sharp kip notes, you won’t have trouble spotting them.

In between their flycatching flights, you’ll find Western Kingbirds perched on fence posts, power lines, shrubs, and trees, making them fairly easy to spot along many roadsides.

For those that live in rural areas with open habitats, like large grassy fields, you might notice Western Kingbirds perching on fences or shade trees in your yard. Although they primarily eat insects, they sometimes fruits and shrubs, including elderberry, Texas mulberry, hawthorn, and woodbine.

Fun Facts About Western Kingbirds

Did you know these fun facts about Western Kingbirds?

The breeding range of Western Kingbirds has been spreading out over the last century; this is a result of human activities. By installing utility lines in open areas and planting many trees, we’ve provided nest sites and hunting perches for the Western Kingbirds. In addition, by clearing forests, we’ve created more open habitats that the birds love to use for foraging.

Although they’re known as western birds (hence the name, Western Kingbirds) they tend to wander around during fall migration. They’ll show up between Florida and Newfoundland on the east coast every autumn (and very rarely in the spring). Western Kingbirds began spending winters in Florida in 1915, and now they’re regular winter residents of the state.

Speaking of Western Kingbirds spending their non-breeding time in Florida, it’s the only US state that you’ll find them during this time.

Western Kingbirds are aggressive and will fend off other kingbirds and predators from their territories. The males use their whirring wings and harsh buzzing calls to warn off intruders. Both the male and female Western Kingbirds will raise their red crowns and snap their bills when provoked. And as the breeding season wears on, pairs of Western Kingbirds defend smaller and smaller areas of their territory. By mid-incubation, their territories don’t expand far past their nest tree.

Male Western Kingbirds typically arrive at the breeding areas before females to patrol the borders of their territories. And once paired, the couple will band together to defend their territory. Not only will they fight off other Western Kingbirds, but they’ll chase away larger predators, too, like American Kestrels and Red-tailed Hawks.

Western Kingbirds were originally named Arkansas Kingbirds; however, scientists renamed the species to acknowledge their wide range across all of western North America.

The oldest Western Kingbirds we know of was a male, and he was just shy of seven years old when found in South Dakota.

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‍Related: American Robin: ID and Overview