The Western Kingbird ( Tyrannus verticalis ) is an eye-catching bird of open habitats that breeds in the western United States and winters in southern Mexico and Central America. As a member of the tyrant flycatcher family (Tyrannidae), it exhibits characteristic foraging behaviors centered around catching insects on the wing. This article delves into the dietary preferences and foraging strategies of the Western Kingbird.
Habitat and Distribution
Western Kingbirds breed in open areas across western North America. Some of their preferred habitats include grasslands, desert shrub, savannah, pastures, cultivated fields, and urban land. Because they use trees and shrubs for nesting and open areas for foraging, Western Kingbirds often live near the edges of woodlands. They may be found near Fremont cottonwood, Arizona sycamore, oaks, junipers, creosote bush, mesquite, plains cottonwood, sagebrush, and ponderosa pine. They also perch and nest in human-made structures such as utility poles and fences. Western Kingbirds usually breed at elevations of less than 7,000 feet, in lowland areas or in mountain valleys. Most of them spend the winter in open woodlands, plantations, grasslands, and fields of southern Mexico and Central America.
The breeding range of this species has expanded gradually since the late 1800s, when settlers began altering habitats. The Western Kingbird was able to spread eastward across the northern mixed-grass prairies of the Dakotas and southern Canada due to the planting of trees. In other areas, such as Texas, range expansion was made possible by forest clearing and the proliferation of utility poles and wires.
Key features of its breeding habitat include open areas for feeding and trees and shrubs for nesting and perching; human-made structures such as utility poles are also used for nesting.
General Diet
Like most other flycatchers, Western Kingbirds are mainly insectivores. They hunt by sight during the day, using acrobatic maneuvers to catch flying insects out of the air. The diet of the Western Kingbird consists primarily of insects, but they will also consume fruits and berries when available. They feed on a wide variety of insects, especially wasps, bees, beetles, and grasshoppers, also flies, true bugs, caterpillars, moths, and many others. Also eats some spiders and millipedes, and regularly eats small numbers of berries and fruits.
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Foraging Behavior
Western Kingbirds are known for their aerial hawking and perch-to-ground foraging flights, often employing acrobatic flying maneuvers. Typical of tyrant flycatchers, this kingbird forages by aerial hawking and perch-to-ground flights, often with acrobatic flying maneuvers. A kingbird on the hunt may capture two or more insects before returning to its perch, where it shakes them or beats them against the perch to subdue them. Western Kingbirds also swoop down from perches to eat terrestrial prey, and glean insects from vegetation while hovering. They forage mostly by watching from a perch and then flying out to snap up insects in its bill. May perch low or high; may catch insects in mid-air, or may hover and then drop to the ground to catch them.
Smaller-billed than most other North American kingbirds, they probably choose smaller prey.
These birds forage from open perches, which vary in height from low to high. landscape and they prefer flying insects less than 5 feet above ground.
Nesting and Diet
Among western kingbirds, both sexes contribute to nest building. The female builds the nest by herself, weaving together a bulky, open cup of grass stems, rootlets, fine twigs, cottonwood bark, cotton, and other plant fibers. She lines it with an inner layer of softer material such as wool, hair, feathers, string, or cloth. The nest measures about 6 inches across and 4 inches deep on the outside, while the inner cup is about 3 inches across and 2 inches deep.
The completed nest is usually placed near the trunk on a horizontal limb of grasses, twigs, and weeds lined with finer materials such as hair or cotton. Nest site varies, usually in tree in vertical fork or on horizontal limb, 15-30' above ground. Also often nests on utility poles, sometimes on building ledges or towers, in empty sheds, on cliff ledges, or in abandoned nests of other birds. Nest (probably built by both sexes) is a cup of grass, weeds, twigs, plant fibers, lined with finer materials such as feathers, plant down, animal hair, bits of paper.
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Males usually arrive at breeding areas before females and patrol the loosely defined borders of their territories. Once paired up, the male and female both help defend their territory, which shrinks as the breeding season progresses. By the middle of incubation the territory is quite small, consisting mainly of the nest tree and nest, but the pair defends it vigorously against other Western Kingbirds and other kingbird species. They even chase away larger predators, such as Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels, using a harsh buzzing call, snapping their bills, and raising their hidden red crown feathers. One of the biggest causes of nest failure is predation, despite the valiant efforts of the parents. Nest predators include snakes, squirrels, woodrats, owls, hawks, falcons, ravens, crows, magpies, and shrikes. Pairs mate monogamously, staying together to feed their young for up to three weeks after the young have fledged. They are mostly solitary throughout the rest of the year.
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