Difference between revisions of "Gray Kingbird" - BirdForum Opus

Latest revision as of 15:45, 7 March 2024

Likely bird of subspecies dominicensis
Photo by Gallus
Tobago, March 2005

Tyrannus dominicensis

Identification

21–25 cm
Underparts of the Gray Kingbird are light grey to almost white, darkest on the upper breast. Upperside is medium gray with darker tail, primaries, and top of head. Tail shows a slight fork at the very end. The side of the head shows a more or less strongly contrasting black "bandits mask". The bill is strong, black, and relatively wide at the base. In the crown is an area with a concealed yellow-orange patch, which very rarely is visible.

Juvenile
Photo by Richard Roach
St James, Barbados, October 2008

Field guides sometimes mention that there should be no yellow in the plumage apart from the concealed crown patch. That seems to be wrong, the undertail coverts, and less often the entire underside may look light yellowish to the human eye as well as to the camera; study of museum bird indicate that this feature is found in some juvenile birds.

Distribution

Nominate subspecies is found from coastal Florida to northern South America and Trinidad including part of the Caribbean, while subspecies vorax is found in the Lesser Antilles. Both subspecies are at least partial migrants in part of their ranges.

Rare to casual vagrant west along coastal to Texas and north along the Atlantic coast to the maritime provinces.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

This is a polytypic species, consisting of two subspecies^[1]:

T. d. dominicensis:

Coastal south-eastern US to Colombia and Venezuela; Trinidad; Netherlands Antilles

T. d. vorax:

Lesser Antilles; winters to Trinidad and the Guianas

Subspecies vorax - the left hand bird is an adult, the right hand a very recent fledging
Photo by njlarsen
Savane Paille, Dominica, June 2017

Habitat

Gardens, agricultural areas with some trees and other semiopen areas.

Behavior

The Gray Kingbird can be very aggressive, with reported attacks on passing Magnificent Frigatebirds and Brown Pelicans, birds 4-5 times longer than themselves and even more disproportionate in weight. At least in Dominica, no other birds dare to flycatch from the top of trees and bushes, they try to stay concealed to avoid confrontations.

Diet

They eat a wide variety of large flying insects.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Birdforum thread discussing Grey Kingbird
Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved May 2014)

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Gray Kingbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 23 November 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Gray_Kingbird

External Links

Search for photos of Gray Kingbird in the gallery

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-;Tyrannus dominicensis
+[[Image:Grey_Kingbird.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Likely bird of subspecies ''dominicensis''<br /> Photo by {{user|Gallus|Gallus}} <br />[[Tobago]], March 2005]]
-[[Image:Grey_Kingbird.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Photo by Gallus<br />Photographed: Tobago]]
+;[[:Category:Tyrannus|Tyrannus]] dominicensis
 ==Identification==
-Underparts of the Grey Kingbird are light grey to almost white, darkest on the upper breast. Upperside is medium gray with darker tail, primaries, and top of head. Tail shows a slight fork at the very end. The side of the head shows a more or less strongly contrasting black <nowiki>"bandits mask"</nowiki>. The bill is strong, black, and relatively wide at the base. In the crown is an area with a concealed yellow-orange patch, which very rarely is visible. It is sometimes mentioned that there should be no yellow in the plumage apart from the concealed crown patch. That might be true under well-controlled light, but in nature, the undertail coverts, and less often the entire underside may look light yellowish to the human eye as well as to the camera.
+–25 cm<br />
+Underparts of the Gray Kingbird are light grey to almost white, darkest on the upper breast. Upperside is medium gray with darker tail, primaries, and top of head. Tail shows a slight fork at the very end. The side of the head shows a more or less strongly contrasting black <nowiki>"bandits mask"</nowiki>. The bill is strong, black, and relatively wide at the base. In the crown is an area with a concealed yellow-orange patch, which very rarely is visible.
+[[Image:057 2 edited-1.jpg|thumb|400px|right|Juvenile<br />Photo by {{user|Richard+Roach|Richard Roach}}<br />St James, [[Barbados]], October 2008]]
+Field guides sometimes mention that there should be no yellow in the plumage apart from the concealed crown patch. That seems to be wrong, the undertail coverts, and less often the entire underside may look light yellowish to the human eye as well as to the camera; study of museum bird indicate that this feature is found in some juvenile birds.
+==Distribution==
+Nominate subspecies is found from coastal [[Florida]] to northern [[South America]] and [[Trinidad]] including part of the [[Caribbean]], while subspecies ''vorax'' is found in the [[Lesser Antilles]]. Both subspecies are at least partial migrants in part of their ranges.
+Rare to casual vagrant west along coastal to [[Texas]] and north along the Atlantic coast to the maritime provinces.
 ==Taxonomy==
+====Subspecies====
-==Distribution==
+This is a [[Dictionary_P-S#M|polytypic]] species, consisting of two subspecies<sup>[[#References|[1]]]</sup>:
-Nominate subspecies is found from coastal SE USA to N [[South America]] and [[Trinidad]] including part of the [[Caribbean]], while subspecies ''vorax'' is found in the [[Lesser Antilles]]. Both subspecies are at least partial migrants in part of their ranges.
+*''T. d. dominicensis'':
+:*Coastal south-eastern [[US]] to [[Colombia]] and [[Venezuela]]; [[Trinidad]]; [[Netherlands Antilles]]
+*''T. d. vorax'':
+:*[[Lesser Antilles]]; winters to Trinidad and the [[Guianas]]
+[[Image:Feeding_Gray_Kingbird_P1000866.jpg|thumb|400px|right|Subspecies ''vorax'' - the left hand bird is an adult, the right hand a very recent fledging<br /> Photo by {{user|njlarsen|njlarsen}}<br />Savane Paille, [[Dominica]], June 2017]]
+==Habitat==
+Gardens, agricultural areas with some trees and other semiopen areas.
 ==Behavior==
-The Grey Kingbird can be very aggressive, with reported attacks on passing [[Magnificent Frigatebird]]s and [[Brown Pelican]]s, birds 4-5 times longer than themselves and even more disproportionate in weight. At least in [[Dominica]], no other birds dare to flycatch from the top of trees and bushes, they try to stay concealed to avoid confrontations.
+The Gray Kingbird can be very aggressive, with reported attacks on passing [[Magnificent Frigatebird]]s and [[Brown Pelican]]s, birds 4-5 times longer than themselves and even more disproportionate in weight. At least in [[Dominica]], no other birds dare to flycatch from the top of trees and bushes, they try to stay concealed to avoid confrontations.
+====Diet====
+They eat a wide variety of large flying insects.
+==References==
+#{{Ref-Clements6thAug13}}#Birdforum [http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=148799 thread] discussing Grey Kingbird
+#Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved May 2014)
+{{ref}}
 ==External Links==
-{{GSearch|Tyrannus+dominicensis}}
+{{GSearch|"Tyrannus dominicensis" {{!}} "Gray Kingbird" {{!}} "Grey Kingbird" }}
+{{GS-checked}}1
+<br />
+<br />
-[[Category:Birds]][[Category:Tyrannus]]
+[[Category:Birds]] [[Category:Tyrannus]]