Kingbirds

My bees, above any other tenants of my farm, attract my attention and respect; I am astonished to see that nothing exists but what has its enemy, one species pursue and live upon the other: unfortunately our kingbirds are the destroyers of those industrious insects; but on the other hand, these birds preserve our fields from the depredation of crows which they pursue on the wing with great vigilance and astonishing dexterity. ❋ J. Hector St. John De Cr��vecoeur (1774)

We watched ducks and kingbirds, robins and crows and other birds. ❋ Greygirlbeast (2009)

Eventually the kingbirds came back to their starting point and spread themselves out -- perched two on driftwood logs a fair distance apart and one on the mile marker. ❋ Unknown (2009)

A white gull feather blew past me and two eastern kingbirds swooped on it from different directions apparently both under the misapprehension that it was a flying insect of some kind. ❋ Unknown (2009)

There were a few eastern kingbirds catching flies in the wrack and a couple of Bonaparte's gulls. ❋ Unknown (2009)

The kingbirds had ventured into the least tern territory and the terns were having none of it. ❋ Unknown (2009)

After awhile two more eastern kingbirds arrived and the first one chased them off. ❋ Unknown (2009)

A bit later I heard a big commotion of least terns and eastern kingbirds. ❋ Unknown (2009)

The scissor-tailed flycatcher, eastern meadowlark, lark sparrow, and eastern and western kingbirds are indicator species of the region. ❋ Unknown (2009)

I knew kingbirds were bossy, but this guy was INTENSE. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Along the road I spotted lots of cedar waxwings in addition to the usual eastern kingbirds, redwinged blackbirds, brown thrashers, and gray catbirds. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Ring-billed gulls hawk the flies like kingbirds do. ❋ Unknown (2008)