{"id":40918,"date":"2016-08-14T04:58:22","date_gmt":"2016-08-14T10:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=40918"},"modified":"2025-06-18T10:17:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T15:17:18","slug":"eastern-kingbird-hawking-insects-from-a-fence-in-northern-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/08\/14\/eastern-kingbird-hawking-insects-from-a-fence-in-northern-utah\/","title":{"rendered":"Eastern Kingbird Hawking Insects From A Fence In Northern Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"EasternEastern Kingbird hawking insects from a fence – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I haven’t photographed many kingbirds this year which in itself seems a little odd but I am also not seeing them in locations where I have seen them in the past and when I do see them they have been especially skittish. Not finding them in locations where they were abundant in previous years is probably related to their prey being absent in those locations.<\/p>\n

Two days ago I was able to photograph an Eastern Kingbird hawking insects from a fence on my way out of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> and I loved that I had one out of focus sunflower in the background of the frame. The tans color in the background is dried grasses.<\/p>\n

The gape on this kingbird is pinkish so I believe this bird hatched earlier this year and it has already become a proficient hunter.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Two days ago I was able to photograph an Eastern Kingbird hawking insects from a fence on my way out of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":148961,"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":[124,27,1148,1519,26],"tags":[4004,4430,1521,3830,3808,4884,2249,3791,3772,4104,11852,2315,1635,298],"class_list":["post-40918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-eastern-kingbirds","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-barbed-wire","tag-eastern-kingbird","tag-fence","tag-flycatcher","tag-flycatchers","tag-hawking","tag-kingbird","tag-kingbirds","tag-perched","tag-ranchlands","tag-summer-3","tag-tyrannus-tyrannus","tag-tyrant-flycatchers-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-0295.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-aDY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21167,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/04\/03\/eastern-kingbird-on-the-road-to-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":40918,"position":0},"title":"Eastern Kingbird On The Road To Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I only have time for a quick post this morning and decided to post one of the migrant kingbirds I look forward to seeing every year, an Eastern Kingbird.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eastern Kingbird on the road to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-5992.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-5992.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-5992.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":72851,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/19\/immature-eastern-kingbirds-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":40918,"position":1},"title":"Immature Eastern Kingbirds At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I only had two minutes with these immature Eastern Kingbirds and I felt I had to make every second I had with them in my viewfinder count. I succeeded.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Eastern Kingbird lifting off, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-immature-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5899.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-immature-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5899.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-immature-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5899.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-immature-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5899.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9293,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/08\/31\/an-eastern-kingbird-in-southwestern-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":40918,"position":2},"title":"An Eastern Kingbird in Southwestern Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Eastern Kingbirds; like their western counterpart, are fearless and will attack birds as large as Bald Eagles to defend their nests.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eastern Kingbird in the Centennial Valley of Montana, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-3834.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-3834.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-3834.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2272,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/05\/01\/western-kingbirds-my-foy\/","url_meta":{"origin":40918,"position":3},"title":"Western Kingbirds – My FOY","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"While I observed them one of the Western Kingbirds was actively hawking insects, swooping towards a bug then perching until it saw the next insect.","rel":"","context":"In "Davis County"","block_context":{"text":"Davis County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/davis-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Western Kingbird perching, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/western-king-bird-perched-utah-mia-mcpherson-2353.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-king-bird-perched-utah-mia-mcpherson-2353.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/western-king-bird-perched-utah-mia-mcpherson-2353.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36910,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/09\/western-and-eastern-kingbird-juveniles\/","url_meta":{"origin":40918,"position":4},"title":"Western and Eastern Kingbird Juveniles","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I feel fortunate that I am able to see and photograph both the Western and Eastern Kingbird juveniles here in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Eastern Kingbird perched on a fence post at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/eastern-kingbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/eastern-kingbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/eastern-kingbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/eastern-kingbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2786.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6022,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/31\/springtime-eastern-kingbird\/","url_meta":{"origin":40918,"position":5},"title":"Springtime Eastern Kingbird","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The scientific name of Eastern Kingbirds is Tyrannus tyrannus, Tyrannus means \"tyrant\" and they are well named because they will harass any bird that comes near their nests including crows, ravens and much larger birds like hawks.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eastern Kingbird back view, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}