{"id":9293,"date":"2013-08-31T03:45:13","date_gmt":"2013-08-31T09:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=9293"},"modified":"2025-06-18T08:16:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T13:16:15","slug":"an-eastern-kingbird-in-southwestern-montana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/08\/31\/an-eastern-kingbird-in-southwestern-montana\/","title":{"rendered":"An Eastern Kingbird in Southwestern Montana"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"EasternEastern Kingbird in the Centennial Valley of Montana – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Eastern Kingbirds are found in many western states and western Canada even though it has “eastern” in its name. Kind of a misleading name but the ranges of the Eastern and Western Kingbirds do overlap so I am sure some type of distinction had to be made. In the area of southwestern Montana where I photographed this Eastern Kingbird both species breed and nest and it is delightful to be able to compare them.<\/p>\n

This might be a juvenile Eastern Kingbird though I am not absolutely certain that it is. Maybe someone viewing the image could positively identify it as an adult or juvenile.<\/p>\n

Eastern Kingbirds; like their western counterpart, are fearless and will attack birds as large as Bald Eagles to defend their nests. They may be much smaller than the birds they attack but they are little tyrants which is how they earned their scientific name “Tyrannus tyrannus<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

By now many Eastern Kingbirds have begun to or will be shortly migrating to their wintering grounds in Central and South America and while they are gone I will miss seeing them hawking from barbed wire perches and fence posts but I look forward to seeing their antics again next spring.<\/p>\n

I did a little research and found out that a nickname for Eastern Kingbirds is “bee martin” because of their habit of hanging around beehives and eating honey bee drones as fast as they can.<\/p>\n

Eastern Kingbirds\u00a0are fascinating, dapper looking birds that I always enjoy seeing in my viewfinder!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Eastern Kingbirds; like their western counterpart, are fearless and will attack birds as large as Bald Eagles to defend their nests. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":148917,"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":[1513,27,223,1519,12],"tags":[1521,898,3808,4884,4067,4071,3791,3772,4104,1635,298,5434,8917],"class_list":["post-9293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-eastern-kingbirds","category-montana","tag-eastern-kingbird","tag-fence-post","tag-flycatcher","tag-flycatchers","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-kingbird","tag-kingbirds","tag-perched","tag-tyrannus-tyrannus","tag-tyrant-flycatchers-2","tag-valley","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-3834.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2pT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36910,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/09\/western-and-eastern-kingbird-juveniles\/","url_meta":{"origin":9293,"position":0},"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":39866,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/06\/04\/centennial-valley-eastern-kingbird\/","url_meta":{"origin":9293,"position":1},"title":"Centennial Valley Eastern Kingbird","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Mountain Bluebirds and this Centennial Valley Eastern Kingbird were the first two bird species I photographed on this trip to Montana and Idaho.","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":"Centennial Valley Eastern Kingbird adult, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-wire-mia-mcpherson-8087.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-wire-mia-mcpherson-8087.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-wire-mia-mcpherson-8087.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-wire-mia-mcpherson-8087.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I always look forward to seeing and photographing Eastern Kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannus) during the warmer months of the year. I was fortunate to see a few yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge 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":"Eastern Kingbird perched on an old fence post, 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-perched-mia-mcpherson-8943.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-perched-mia-mcpherson-8943.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-perched-mia-mcpherson-8943.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastern-kingbird-perched-mia-mcpherson-8943.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":147589,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/05\/29\/eastern-kingbird-at-lower-scarborough-slough\/","url_meta":{"origin":9293,"position":4},"title":"Eastern Kingbird At Lower Scarborough Slough","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The last time I was at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma in May, I photographed this handsome Eastern Kingbird at Lower Scarborough Slough.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Eastern Kingbird at Lower Scarborough Slough, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/eastern-kingbird-lower-scarborough-slough-mia-mcpherson-7493.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/eastern-kingbird-lower-scarborough-slough-mia-mcpherson-7493.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/eastern-kingbird-lower-scarborough-slough-mia-mcpherson-7493.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/eastern-kingbird-lower-scarborough-slough-mia-mcpherson-7493.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":128683,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/05\/23\/spring-eastern-kingbird-photos-from-tishomingo-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":9293,"position":5},"title":"Spring Eastern Kingbird Photos From Tishomingo NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Since my arrival in Oklahoma, I've had fun taking Eastern Kingbird photos at the Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge. 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