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Cassin's Kingbird | Tyrannus vociferans
Cassins koningstiran | Tirano gritón
Cassin's Kingbird is a kingbird of the dry highlands of Mexico, with a dark grey head and breast and a yellow belly. It is noisy and often perches conspicuously on a treetop or wire. In the guide area it lives mainly in northern and central Mexico.
Voice
A loud, harsh chi-BEER or ki-dear, often repeated, and a rapid, hoarse series chibeer-beer-beer.
Recording: Richard E. Webster — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
22–23 cm. Head and breast dark slate-grey, with a sharply defined white chin and a darker mask. Back olive-grey, wings brownish-grey with pale edges to the coverts. Belly and undertail coverts bright yellow. Tail blackish-brown, square, with a narrow pale tip and no white outer edges. Bill black, fairly short. Male and female are alike.
Confusion species
Western Kingbird Tyrannus verticalis has a paler grey head and breast, a white throat that merges gradually into the grey, and white outer edges to the tail. Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus and Couch's Kingbird Tyrannus couchii have a yellow breast, a paler head, a longer bill and a notched brown tail. Thick-billed Kingbird Tyrannus crassirostris has a much heavier bill and a pale breast.
Habitat
Open oak and pine-oak woodland, semi-desert grassland and plateaus with scattered trees, riparian woodland, pasture with trees and village edges in the highlands; in winter also in lower dry country. It catches insects in flight from a high perch.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Highlands of Mexico, from the border with the United States through the Sierra Madre Occidental, the central plateau and the Sierra Madre Oriental south to Oaxaca. In winter more widespread, also at lower elevations and into southern Mexico; scarce as far as Guatemala. Outside the guide area a breeding bird in the south-western United States.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
On open plateaus with scattered trees it is often the most frequently seen kingbird. Look for the white chin against the dark grey breast and the pale tail tip.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Fairly common in the highlands of Mexico.
Scientific name
Tyrannus vociferans | Swainson, 1826
Swainson described the species in 1826 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Tyrannus was introduced in 1799 by De Lacépède. Tyrannus is Latin (from Greek turannos) for 'tyrant, despot', after the aggressive way these birds drive off even raptors. vociferans is Latin for 'loudly calling', after the loud, hoarse call. The specimen the first description was based on came from Temascaltepec, State of Mexico, Mexico.