The Cassin's Kingbird, Tyrannus vociferans, is a large Tyrant flycatcher

Tyrant flycatcher

The tyrant flycatchers are a family of passerine birds which occur throughout North and South America. They are considered the largest family of birds on Earth, with more than 400 species. They are the most diverse avian family in every country in the Americas, except for the United States and...

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Adults have a gray head with slightly darker cheeks; a dark unforked tail with a buffy fringe and gray-olive underparts.
They have a pale throat and deep yellow lower breast.

Juveniles are duller and have pale edges on their wings.

They build a bulky nest on a horizontal tree limb in mid-story or the canopy of trees. The three to five
spotted white eggs have an incubation period of 18 to 19 days.

In the summer these birds can be found in California and from Montana to Utah, along the eastern Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

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habitat includes rangeland

Rangeland

Rangelands are vast natural landscapes in the form of grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas, chaparrals, steppes, and tundras...

s and savanna

Savanna

A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...

s.

These birds migrate

Bird migration

Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...

 to their winter quarters between Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

 and northern Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

. They are permanent residents in south-central Mexico, and their main wintering ranges are west of the Sea of Cortez on Baja California Sur

Baja California Sur

Baja California Sur , is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state on October 8, 1974, the area was known as the South Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises...

, and east of the sea on the mainland of western Mexico.

The Cassin's Kingbird primarily feeds on insects it preys upon from high perches by hawking

Hawking (birds)

Hawking is a feeding strategy in birds involving catching flying insects in the air. The term usually refers to a technique of sallying out from a perch to snatch an insect and then returning to the same or a different perch...

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It also eats berries and fruits in lesser quantities.

The call is a high-pitched shorter followed by a longer chirp,
sounding like a 'chi-beer'.

The name of this bird commemorates the American ornithologist John Cassin

John Cassin

John Cassin was an American ornithologist.He is considered to be one of the giants of American ornithology, and was America's first taxonomist, describing 198 birds not previously mentioned by Alexander Wilson and John James Audubon...

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Mating Ritual

In early spring, presumably after having chosen (or shown up with) their mate, they launch into a peculiar dance. With excited high-pitched calls, they hover in unison, wings outstretched, over a favorite perch. This dance takes place several times a day over several days, over several separate sites in an area covering two or 3 acres (12,140.6 m²). The sites chosen for the dance appear to be the same sites used as hunting perches during the spring and summer.

Comparison of the Cassin's kingbird with the Western kingbird

The Cassin's kingbird and the western kingbird are similar in appearance. The Cassin's is a little larger than the western and the upper parts are a darker gray than the western but the most distinctive difference between the birds is that the Cassin's has a thin white strip along lower edge of the tail feathers and the western has a thin white strip that runs along the edge of the tail feathers. This difference can be seen in the image on the left.

External links

• Cassin's Kingbird photo gallery VIREO Photo-High Res--(Close-up)
• Photo
• Photo; Article CalPhotos-(Photo Gallery)