June 2012 Bird of the Month Western Kingbird

The Western Kingbird is my "hook bird" you can see the story on the right side column of this blog.

From their look out they aggressively defend their territory keeping intruders away. Sitting on a fence post, branch of a tree or even on a sunflower the Western Kingbird will watch for flying insects then take of in a fluttering flight catch the insect and return the their post, over and over it is quite entertaining to watch them hunt.

Western Kingbirds are members of the Tyrant Flycatcher family considered the largest family of birds on Earth, with more than 400 species. Adult Western Kingbirds are grey-olive on the upper parts with a grey head and dark line through the eyes; the underparts are yellow on the breast and belly, long black tail with white outer feathers.

Common throughout Western North America during summer they migrate south to Florida, Mexico and Central America in the winter.

One of my favorite birds and my hook bird the Western Kingbird is my pick for Bird of the Month for June 2012