ML61479571

Age and sex

Immature Unknown sex - X

Media notes

Drawings of Western Kingbird used with permission of Doug Tate

Observation details

Original observer: Doug Tate. First record for Muskoka. Source: Doug Tate. 1994. OBRC Rare Bird Report. On the cold, windy fall morning of 11 November 1993, Doug Tate observed a bird actively flitting around the ground at the Parks Canada property in Honey Harbour (Tate 1994). He identified it as a Western Kingbird. In his submission to the OBRC, Tate (1994) detailed his observations of the bird that he made over the course of 1 ½ hours, often from very close range (10 m) with binoculars. He noted that the bird was attempting to forage, but “without notable success”. It usually stayed close to the ground, often landing on the grass. Tate noted that it had quick, shallow wing beats, and that it frequently fanned its tail, revealing the diagnostic “white outer webs on outside feathers of the otherwise black tail.” The bird was aged by the OBRC as an immature, owing to Tate’s description of the bird’s pale wing bars being not well defined but noticeable (OBRC 1994). Tate also observed that it spent some time in sumac trees, but it was not seen eating the fruit. There were Evening Grosbeaks in the same tree, which the Kingbird occasionally chased off. Tate noted that the Kingbird was slightly longer but slimmer than the Evening Grosbeaks. Unfortunately, the bird could not be relocated when looked for over the next few days. This bird was a notably late individual, as most of the 73 accepted records of Western Kingbird in Ontario in the period 1978 – 1997 occurred May through June and August through October (Carpentier 2007).

Technical information

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