Tyrannidae Confunnidae

More greetings from the West. We are officially back in Arizona now that the Vegas stay has come to its end. Managed to pick up several birds while we were out there that puts me a mere 4 birds from last year’s total annual species count which was 327 (link here). That’s a “total count” with a ‘T’. Definitely having a good year and my 2023 record of 340 is in definite reach considering we haven’t even made it to spring migration yet. We packed a lot into our Vegas stay as those days as Ron was able to come join us for a few (definitely boosted his numbers as well) and we decided to explore Spring Mountain for the first time even adding new parts of the Lake Mead Recreational Area that took full days themselves. Add in the stops at Count’s Customs and Linda’s favorite casinos and next thing we know our time was up. Didn’t even have a chance to take John (link here) up on his generous offer for a drink – hoping he takes a rain check on that as we will definitely be back. In that theme, since we are currently “back” in Arizona on our return leg, figured I’d feature a lifer tinned during last year’s visit to this state.

How well do you know your Kingbirds? Take a guess which one this is and check your answer by hitting the jump!

If you happen to get the chance to bird in different regions around the States you have likely run into at least one members of the Tyrannidae family (link here). This particular family is quite large with 33 members and has a rather unique distinction, in my opinion, of having both an abundance of diversity and similarity among the species in that category.

One should have no problem differentiating a Vermilion Flycatcher (link here) or a Great Kiskadee (link here), or a Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher (link here) or a even a Black Phoebe (link here) out of that group. Those all have very distinct characteristics that are easily discernible in the field. To varying degrees it is more difficult with the rest of the members of the family as there are groups of them that look VERY similar and tend to have overlapping regions – translated…you are going to be spending some time with your nose buried in a reference book. Note Ron did get me two really good reference books by Cin-Ty Lee on the various NA Flycatchers that I am still devouring.

Today’s featured feathered friend happens to be in one of those difficult groupings referred to as Kingbirds. Again, there is some obvious differences among even the Kingbirds, however, the subgroup that contains the Western Kingbird (link here), the Cassin’s Kingbird, the Tropical Kingbird (link here) and the Couch’s Kingbird can cause one to consider hair plugs. Each of those are prominently adorned in grey, brown, yellow and white feathering in similar proportions and locations. On a visual only level, they could easily be confused as their key differences tend to be in the “amount” and “depth” of coloring, especially on their chest.

The Western variety has the largest region of the four and appropriately named as it roams basically the entire western half of the US. The Tropical and the Couches are south Texas specialties. The Cassin’s calls the quad states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona home. Based on the location given away earlier (AZ), you can make an educated guess that this is the Cassin’s variety which represents a new lifer for me!! We found this specimen at a place called Reid Park in Tucson. While going through the eBird reports Linda noticed the Cassin’s had been spotted there, so we put our jetpacks on and hauled ass over there. I interrupt this post for a quick announcement – our legal department has demanded that I state for the record that Intrigued does not condone violating any traffic laws in the pursuit of birds. Never, ever eva. If you only knew what Brad and I have to go through to get a post out sigh.

I really didn’t know what to expect as urban parks can be all over the map in size, habitat and..well, honestly, clientele. Reid turned out to be pretty incredible. It is a very large park complete with a large pond, baseball fields, picnic areas, playground equipment and to our a surprise a complete attached zoo. The only downside was that it was loaded with people. The hunt was officially on, yellow, grey, brown a bit of white shouldn’t be that hard right…assuming all you birders just chuckled. This did take a bit of time and if it wasn’t for a very vocal Black Phoebe, I might have never found it. Decided to walk over and see what was causing the Phoebe so much agitation – I find them generally reserved beyond a quick call from time to time interspersed in their Mosquito sorties. To my surprise, there was the Kingbird giving devious glances to its fellow Flycatcher. Thanks for the assist Mr. Phoebe.

Admittedly, I was not entirely up on the key characteristics of the Cassin’s versus the other three similar Kingbirds. We have the chance to experience the Tropical and the Couch’s on our annual winter migration down to south Texas. Those two birds are basically visually identical. I will also go on record that I am skeptical when I meet birders in the field that claim they can distinguish the two by sight only. The surest way to get those differentiated is to listen for their call. Cornell references the Tropical call as a series of twills and twittering like pit prrrrr pit pit prrrr. They describe the Couch’s as “a burry series of peer notes interspersed with querulous notes or sha[r]p pits”. Honestly, I just wait for the Couch’s to call as it sounds like “get me a beer” (from the couch…get it heheh). Not knowing what the Cassin’s call was, I whipped out Merlin which immediately confirmed it. Note it did sound similar to the Couch’s.

The only other validation was to distinguish it from the possible Western. The Cassin’s is much darker grey in the head and upper chest than the Western which really makes the white mustache stand out. That only helps if you happen to be familiar with the Western which I was fortunate to be. The other key differentiator is discerned in flight. The Cassin’s has a white tip tail where the Western has the white highlights on their outer tail feathers.

Hopefully that is enough to get you pointed in the right direction should you encounter one of these four very similar looking Kingbirds. Time to get some shuteye before we head back up into the mountains tomorrow morning. Suspect we will once again have limited connectivity so apologies in advance for delayed responses. Take care everyone!