{"id":26986,"date":"2015-07-30T06:38:48","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T12:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=26986"},"modified":"2025-11-08T07:18:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T13:18:22","slug":"western-kingbirds-juveniles-begging-to-be-fed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/07\/30\/western-kingbirds-juveniles-begging-to-be-fed\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Kingbirds – Juveniles Begging To Be Fed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuvenileJuvenile Western Kingbird hovering near an adult – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I went up north yesterday to photograph Burrowing Owls but because of road construction the owls were very skittish but on the way to Howell, Utah<\/span><\/a> some Western Kingbirds kept me busy as two juveniles begged for food from an adult.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Western Kingbird hovering in flight – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The juveniles flew in while I was photographing the adult and they took me by surprise. Fortunately I was able to lock onto this juvenile as it hovered in flight close to the perched adult.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Western Kingbird calling while in flight – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

And as the Western Kingbird juvenile chattered away I got a nice series of images of it with green vegetation and a field of golden grain that had been harvested in the background.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn adult and juvenile Western Kingbird perched together – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The adult Western Kingbird<\/span><\/a> didn’t have prey when the juvenile flew in but that didn’t stop the juvenile from begging as it clung to the wooden post below the adult.<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo juvenile Western Kingbirds begging for food from the adult – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Then a second juvenile kingbird flew in and begged for food while it hovered near its sibling and the adult. This was all happening so quick that the buffer on my Nikon D810 started to fill and with that body that does not happen very often.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Western Kingbird begging for food while perched – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The adult kingbird and one of the juveniles flew off leaving this one still begging for food and when its cries weren’t answered it flew off too.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Western Kingbird with prey (green sweat bee?) – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The adult Western Kingbird<\/span><\/a> flew back in to another perch nearby with what appears to be a green sweat bee which it gobbled up quickly. They need to eat too!<\/p>\n

So even though I didn’t come home with many Burrowing Owls images yesterday these Western Kingbird images more than made up for it!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/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":"

So even though I didn’t come home with many Burrowing Owls images yesterday these Western Kingbird images more than made up for it! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":163151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1148,26,534],"tags":[4004,740,4021,4072,11563,4052,3808,4884,4122,4174,4067,4071,3791,3772,2315,4183,4411,4193],"class_list":["post-26986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","category-western-kingbirds","tag-adult","tag-begging","tag-bird-photography","tag-calling","tag-farmlands","tag-flight","tag-flycatcher","tag-flycatchers","tag-flying","tag-hovering-2","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-kingbird","tag-kingbirds","tag-summer-3","tag-tyrannus-verticalis","tag-western-kingbird","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/western-kingbird-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-0368.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-71g","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53217,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/07\/25\/juvenile-western-kingbirds-in-box-elder-county-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":26986,"position":0},"title":"Juvenile Western Kingbirds in Box Elder County, Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Juvenile Western Kingbirds may look sweet like this one does perched on a fence but they can be rather pushy when it comes to demanding food from their parents and they are also quite noisy too while they are begging.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Western Kingbird next to a country road, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/western-kingbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1123.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-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-1123.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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I didn't expect to see.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Western Kingbird in Utah County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/western-kingbird-mia-mcpherson-7042.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-mia-mcpherson-7042.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/western-kingbird-mia-mcpherson-7042.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47498,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/06\/30\/juvenile-eastern-and-western-kingbirds\/","url_meta":{"origin":26986,"position":3},"title":"Juvenile Eastern and Western Kingbirds – Their Ranges Overlap Here in Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The ranges for these two species of kingbirds overlap here in northern Utah but I see more of the Western Kingbirds than I do the Eastern Kingbirds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Western Kingbird perched on an old fence post, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/western-kingbird-juvenile-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-0593.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/western-kingbird-juvenile-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-0593.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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