{"id":15568,"date":"2014-08-06T05:21:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-06T11:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15568"},"modified":"2024-06-21T09:53:36","modified_gmt":"2024-06-21T14:53:36","slug":"western-kingbird-nesting-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/08\/06\/western-kingbird-nesting-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Kingbird nesting failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

In June I published several posts about a pair of Western Kingbirds nesting on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> but, unfortunately, that nesting attempt failed.<\/p>\n

\"PerchedPerched Western Kingbird – Nikon D7100, f11, 1\/400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 350mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The kingbirds had finished building the nest, and the female was sitting on the eggs when I stopped visiting them because I didn’t want to disturb them during incubation. However, when I returned a little more than two weeks later, when the chicks should have hatched, there were only remnants of the nest left and no adult kingbirds in the vicinity.<\/p>\n

It was a sturdy little nest, so I can’t imagine it just fell apart. I can only think of three reasons why it might have been destroyed.<\/p>\n

The first, and probably most obvious, is that a person or persons may have destroyed the nest. Even though I hate the thought of people being that mean or destructive, it does happen.<\/p>\n

The second possibility is that the nest was in a sagebrush, and the bison on the island like to use those bushes to rub against to scratch themselves. Typically, when bison scratch themselves using sagebrush, there is noticeable damage done to the bush itself, and this sagebrush showed no signs of that.<\/p>\n

The third possibility is that the nest may have been predated by Black-billed Magpies, Ravens, or Sharp-shinned Hawks, causing the adult kingbirds to abandon the nest.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason this kingbird nest failed, I am sad that the pair of Western Kingbirds didn’t succeed. Maybe they re-nested somewhere else. I’m just sorry to know about a Western Kingbird nesting failure at all.<\/p>\n

Life is hard for nesting birds.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Western Kingbird photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In June I published several posts about a pair of Western Kingbirds nesting on Antelope Island State park but unfortunately that nesting attempt failed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,26,534],"tags":[4004,4021,4098,3808,4884,9070,3791,3772,3976,5002,4104,4394,4183,4411,8917],"class_list":["post-15568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","category-western-kingbirds","tag-adult","tag-bird-photography","tag-desert","tag-flycatcher","tag-flycatchers","tag-island","tag-kingbird","tag-kingbirds","tag-nesting","tag-nesting-failure","tag-perched","tag-post","tag-tyrannus-verticalis","tag-western-kingbird","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/western-kingbird-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-3594.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-436","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15193,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/06\/12\/portrait-of-a-male-long-billed-curlew-and-a-western-kingbird-display\/","url_meta":{"origin":15568,"position":0},"title":"Portrait 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again yesterday on Antelope Island State Park and hours later I was still hearing their calls in my mind.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Western Kingbird on the wing, in flight from one perch to another, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/western-kingbird-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8052.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/western-kingbird-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8052.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/western-kingbird-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8052.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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