SW Florida USA - possible Tropical Kingbird? (1 Viewer)

[Fandango739]

Seen today in Cape Coral.
All the same bird.
Many thanks for the thoughts!

 

[Butty]

You'll need to say why you suspect that species rather than (the default?) western kingbird.

 

[jmepler]

The light outer tail feathers look better for Western Kingbird.

There was just one reported in Cape Coral recently as well.

Here is the eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S153889607

 

[Fandango739]

The 'default' Western is seasonal visitor at best. Our real default should be the Eastern. To be honest, I have no idea why the Western shows up this far east, even for winter, given that the summer range is pretty much west of the Mississippi River.

In the meantime, I truly thought that this bird's back seemed too pale for Western and the yellow was screamingly bright in the sunshine. In retrospect, (and after blowing up the images) the tail has light perimeters which could be indicative to Western.

Thanks for the help!

 

[tom baxter]

The 'default' Western is seasonal visitor at best. Our real default should be the Eastern. To be honest, I have no idea why the Western shows up this far east, even for winter, given that the summer range is pretty much west of the Mississippi River.

In the meantime, I truly thought that this bird's back seemed too pale for Western and the yellow was screamingly bright in the sunshine. In retrospect, (and after blowing up the images) the tail has light perimeters which could be indicative to Western.

Thanks for the help!

The bill is also not strikingly large, and the crown is flatter than usual for Tropical Kingbird. Often, not always, Tropical Kingbirds show a noticeably notched tail, but the white outter tail feathers clinch the ID for Western here. Even though Western Kingbirds are not a very common wintering bird in Florida, they are still a lot more common than Tropical Kingbirds. The two species are extremely similar, but the huge bill is usually a quick tell for Tropical, and they are quite vocal, so that is also a good check since the two sound very different. It is a good find either way.

 

[Brian J Small]

 

[lockbreeze926]

The bird in the photos does seem to show the outer white tail feathers of a Western.

Western Kingbird used to be found every winter in good numbers at a roost in Lake County, around Hooper Farms Road, near Lust Road and what is nowadays Lake Apopka North Shore/Wildlife Drive.

In mid-winter, there would regularly be 30-40 Westerns and 5 or 6 Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, assembling about an hour before darkness fell. There's no trace of that roost since the 429 beltway was extended up that way, taking up a lot of nearby land, with attendant disruption, but the history shows that there are decent numbers of Westerns around FL in winter.