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Eastern Kingbird

Status Fairly common in summer. Breeds. In recent years the vanguard of this species seems to have been arriving earlier. Among those arriving after mid-April, which might be taken as normal migrants, the average date of first appearances has been 9 May. In addition, there have been a few individuals and some small groups in the first half of April during six springs since 1968, the earliest on 3 April 1977 at Cape Forchu, Yarmouth County. Kingbirds are found commonly in summer only in agricultural areas. Outbound migration begins in early August, when birds appear on our coasts and islands, but main movements occur in late August and early September. Latest migrants are generally in September or October, occasionally later (average 1 October, latest 26 November). Very late individuals were recorded on Christmas Bird Counts at Yarmouth on 29 December 1973 and at Halifax East on 14 December 1974.

Description Length: 21.5-23 cm. Adults: Upperparts slate-black; tail broadly tipped with white; red-orange crown patch (usually concealed); underparts white, tinged with gray on breast. Immatures: No crown patch.

Breeding Nest: Well built and usually quite compact, made of twigs, weed stems and coarse grasses, lined with fine grass or often fine rootlets only; rarely a few feathers will be used for lining. A strong preference is shown for apple trees in orchards, where the nest is saddled on a horizontal limb 2.5-5 m from the ground. Another favoured site is a bush or small tree growing on the bank of a stream that meanders through an open meadow, the nest very often placed directly over the water. An unusual nest location was the concave top of a medium-sized dead stump which protruded 2.5 m above the surface of Black River Lake, Kings County, about 100 m from the shore. The female would alight on the stump and then suddenly drop from sight. She left when the stump was tapped, and scolded from a perch nearby.

Eggs: 3-4, usually 3; white, spotted and blotched with shades of brown. Laying begins early in June. A nest examined on 28 June 1895 at Gaspereau, Kings County, held three fresh eggs; this was evidently a second nesting attempt, the first having failed. I have no evidence that more than a single brood is raised each year. An abnormally late nesting occurred in 1969 at Gaspereau, when the young from a nest in Cyril Coldwell's orchard did not leave until 27 August.

Range Breeds from central British Columbia, southern Mackenzie Valley, southern Quebec, and Nova Scotia, south to the southern states. Winters in South America.

Remarks Like other members of the flycatcher family, a high percentage of the kingbird's food consists of insects taken on the wing, but on occasion it also eats fruit. One collected by W. Earl Godfrey in early September 1930 had just devoured several raspberries, and W.A. Brown saw one feeding on chokecherries in early duly 1935.

The ferocity displayed by both sexes when defending their nesting territory against crows and other larger birds is remarkable.

The Eastern Kingbird's call is a high-pitched metallic chirp, often prolonged into a chatter. The conspicuous, broad white terminal band across an otherwise black tail is nerhans its best field mark.