Eastern KingBird

Tyrannus tyrannus

Seen over most of the US, *EXCEPT* in the southwestern US and most of the Great Basin, my first Eastern Kingbird was found near Saskatoon Lake in Alberta, Canada. I’ve since met them in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Oregon and Texas. These birds spend winters in South America, mostly in the upper Amazon Basin. South Texas is an ideal place to meet these birds during migration, as they pass through a narrow strip of land along the Gulf of Mexico before disbursing over the rest of the North American continent.

Like most birds in the kingbird clan, in defence of its breeding territory, it lives up to its tyrant name (tyrannus), making unrelenting assaults on birds such as large hawks and herons.