2020 Bonanza Bird #29

Meet the Birdorable Eastern Kingbird: The Tyrant of Flycatchers

Birdorable Eastern Kingbird

Today’s new Birdorable is one of three “kings” we’ll introduce in the days leading up to Christmas. Here is the Birdorable Eastern Kingbird!

Eastern Kingbirds are large flycatchers native to the New World. These migratory birds breed across much of the United States, except for in the far west. Winters are spent across western parts of South America.

The Eastern Kingbird is a “tyrant” flycatcher – its scientific name is Tyrannus tyrannus. Tyrannus translates to “king” or “tyrant” and refers to the aggressive behavior seen in these birds and others in the same family. There are about 437 species in the tyrant flycatcher family and all are native to the New World.

Eastern Kingbird
Photo by USFWS Midwest Region (public domain)

Tomorrow another “king” will join Birdorable. This species of sea duck is found in both New World and Old World waters. Do you know this one?

Cute Eastern Kingbird Gifts

Superbowl of Birding

Birdorable Football
Mass Audubon's Superbowl of Birding IV will take place this Saturday from 5am to 5pm. The Superbowl of Birding is a 12-hour competition in Massachusetts whereby different teams try to find as many birds as possible during the day. Different birds are worth different points and prizes will be awarded in nine different categories. We'll be rooting for one of the teams participating in this year's competition: the Bloggerhead Kingbirds. The team is made up of birding bloggers Christopher, Patrick, Corey, Quintus and N8. Christopher contacted us earlier this week to make a logo for their team, which we were very happy to do! He requested a Loggerhead Kingbird with a laptop and binoculars and here's the result:
Bloggerhead Kingbirds logo
You can read more about the team here: http://natureblognetwork.com/blog/nature-blogging-20/. Good luck Bloggerhead Kingbirds!