Gray kingbird
Gray kingbird | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Tyrannidae |
Genus: | Tyrannus |
Species: | T. dominicensis
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Binomial name | |
Tyrannus dominicensis (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
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Breeding Year-round Migration Nonbreeding
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The gray kingbird or grey kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis), also known as pitirre, petchary or white-breasted kingbird, is a
Taxonomy
The gray kingbird was
Two subspecies are recognised:[6]
- T. d. dominicensis (Gmelin, JF, 1788) – southeast USA to Colombia and Venezuela
- T. d. vorax Vieillot, 1819 – Lesser Antilles
Description
The adult gray kingbird is an average-sized kingbird. It measures 23 cm (9.1 in) in length and weighs from 37 to 52 g (1.3 to 1.8 oz).[8] The upperparts are gray, with brownish wings and tail, and the underparts are white with a gray tinge to the chest. The head has a concealed yellow crown stripe, and a dusky mask through the eyes. The dark bill is heavier than that of the related, slightly smaller, tropical kingbird. The sexes are similar, but young birds have rufous edges on the wing coverts, rump and tail.
The call is a loud rolling trill, pipiri, pipiri, which is the reason behind many of its local onomatopoeiac names, like pestigre or pitirre, in the Spanish-speaking Greater Antilles, or petchary in some of the English-speaking islands.
Distribution and habitat
It is found in increasing numbers in the state of Florida, and is more often found inland though it had been previously restricted to the coast. It breeds from the extreme southeast of the United States, mainly in Florida, as well as Central America, and through the West Indies south to Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, the Guianas, and Colombia. Northern populations are migratory, wintering on the Caribbean coast of Central America and northern South America. Several vagrant populations are known to exist in the Northeastern United States. It favors tall trees and shrubs, including the edges of savanna and marshes.
Behaviour
Like other kingbirds, these birds aggressively defend their territory against intruders, including mammals and much larger birds such as crested caracaras, red-tailed hawks and broad-winged hawks by mobbing.
Food and feeding
Gray kingbirds wait on an exposed perch high in a tree, occasionally
Breeding
It makes a flimsy
Gallery
References
- . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1788). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 302.
- ^ Traylor, Melvin A. Jr, ed. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 8. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. pp. 226–227.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Vol. 2. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 394-395, Plate 38, Fig. 2. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
- ^ Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Tyrant flycatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- hdl:10138/329703. A high resolution version of the phylogenetic tree in Figure 1 is available from the first author's website here.
- ISBN 978-0-8493-4258-5.
- ^ "Tyrannus_dominicensis - Grey Kingbird or Pitirre.pdf" (PDF). The University of the West Indies. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 August 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
- Hilty, Steven L (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
- ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
External links
- Videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
- Bird sounds - Florida Museum of Natural History