{"id":67310,"date":"2020-03-25T06:25:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T12:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=67310"},"modified":"2025-11-08T13:26:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T19:26:28","slug":"i-spotted-my-first-of-season-western-kingbirds-four-days-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/03\/25\/i-spotted-my-first-of-season-western-kingbirds-four-days-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"I Spotted My First Of Season Western Kingbirds Four Days Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Western Kingbird resting between feeding its young \u2013 Nikon D810, f9, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

While I was up in Box Elder County<\/span><\/a>, Utah four days ago I spotted my first of season Western Kingbirds chasing each other around in flight near a ranch. I was not able to get photos of the pair but seeing them excited me.<\/p>\n

Western Kingbirds can be quite vocal when there are two or more of them in an area and although I didn’t hear the two I saw four days ago I already knew what they would sound like because I have had years of experience listening for them while I am out looking for birds to photograph.<\/p>\n

They sound like this<\/span><\/a>. There are times that I hear the calls of Western Kingbirds before I see them which leads me right to birds.<\/p>\n

\"Western

Western Kingbirds – Utah eBird Observations<\/p><\/div>\n

The pair of Western Kingbirds I found seemed like they might be a little early to arrive on their breeding grounds but when I checked the graphs of Western Kingbird observations in Utah on eBird it does show them starting to appear the last week of March.<\/p>\n

Soon other Western Kingbirds will migrate into the area and the pair I saw the other day will have competition for the best nesting sites.<\/p>\n

\"BeggingBegging juvenile Western Kingbird \u2013 Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The name kingbird is derived from their “take-charge” behavior. Kingbirds are well known for aggressively defending their territory, even against much larger birds such as hawks.<\/p>\n

Originally Western Kingbirds were named Arkansas Kingbirds but that name was changed to reflect the wider range they inhabit in Western North America.<\/p>\n

Five years ago in July I was able to spend time photographing a Western Kingbird family as the adult fed its two young.<\/p>\n

The juvenile kingbirds were in constant begging mode and the adult was able to find food for them as I watched and photographed the three birds. Both of these photos came from that session with the kingbird family.<\/p>\n

The calls and sounds they made sounded very similar to this recording<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This morning there is a light dusting of snow on the ground and tomorrow we are supposed to get more of the white stuff tomorrow but next week the weather forecast looks more like spring and hopefully I will be able to head up north again and will try to re-find the pair of kingbirds. I can barely wait to have Western Kingbirds in my viewfinder again.<\/p>\n

That is if<\/em> we don’t go on a more rigid lock down protocol here in Utah because of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/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":"

While I was up in Box Elder County, Utah four days ago I spotted my first of season Western Kingbirds chasing each other around in flight near a ranch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":163209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1148,26,534],"tags":[4004,9394,740,5831,9393,5114,898,3808,4884,4067,6854,4071,3791,3772,530,4104,4394,4156,4183,298,4411,8917,4193],"class_list":["post-67310","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-arkansas-kingbirds","tag-begging","tag-breeding-grounds","tag-early","tag-facts","tag-fence-post","tag-flycatcher","tag-flycatchers","tag-immature","tag-information","tag-juvenile","tag-kingbird","tag-kingbirds","tag-migration","tag-perched","tag-post","tag-resting","tag-tyrannus-verticalis","tag-tyrant-flycatchers-2","tag-western-kingbird","tag-wooden-post","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/western-kingbird-juvenile-begging-mia-mcpherson-0604.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-hvE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":113327,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/05\/08\/my-first-of-year-western-kingbird-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":67310,"position":0},"title":"My First Of Year Western Kingbird Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"On my last trip to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I was tickled to take my first of year Western Kingbird photos when I was heading back to the interstate.","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":"First of year Western Kingbird on a barb wire fence, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/western-kingbird-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-2541.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/western-kingbird-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-2541.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/western-kingbird-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-2541.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/western-kingbird-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-2541.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5322,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/07\/11\/western-kingbird-on-barbed-wire\/","url_meta":{"origin":67310,"position":1},"title":"Western Kingbird On Barbed Wire","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Western Kingbirds appear to have had a wonderful nesting season here in Utah because there are plenty of young birds perching on wires and branches loudly demanding food from the frazzled looking adults.","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":"Bear River MBR Western Kingbird on barbed wire, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/western-kingbird-mia-mcpherson-4582.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-4582.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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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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