• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Where premium quality meets exceptional value. ZEISS Conquest HDX.

Thick-billed Kingbird - BirdForum Opus

Photo by raulroa
Banning Park, Wilmington, California, November 2005
Tyrannus crassirostris

Identification

20·5–24 cm (8-9½ in)

  • Greyish-brown upperparts
  • Dark grey-brown head
  • Blackish mask
  • Yellow crown patch
  • Large, thick, black bill
  • Whitish throat and breast
  • Yellowish belly and undertail coverts
  • Slightly forked, grey-brown tail with cinnamon-brown edges

Juvenile: upperparts browner than adult, underparts brighter yellow than adult

Juvenile
Photo by Brian Hubbs
Patagonia, Arizona, August 2016

Distribution

North and Central America
North America: found in Arizona and New Mexico
Central America: Mexico
Winters south to Guatemala.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

  • T. c. pompalis:
  • Extreme south-eastern Arizona south along west coast of Mexico to Colima
  • T. c. crassirostris:
  • South West Mexico (Guerrero to Oaxaca); winters to Guatemala

Habitat

Streamside growth, sycamore canyons.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet has been poorly recorded. They are believed to be primarily inectivorous, with the addition of seeds berries and fruit at times as well.

Breeding

The cup shaped nest is constructed from twigs, grass, and plant stems. It is built in a sycamore or cottonwood tree. The clutch consists of 3-4 brown spotted white eggs which are incubated by the female for 18-20 days.

Vocalisation


Voice recording by Joseph Morlan
Flood Park, Menlo Park, California, USA, 30 October 2021.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Avibase
  3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved September 2016)
  4. Whatbird

Recommended Citation

External Links

Back
Top