Whatbird.com

Seen in Irvine, CA (southern CA) recently.  Doesn't look quite like the other Western Kingbirds I have seen.

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Life List: 164
New this year-to-date: 13
Latest: Red-crowned Parrot

The longer I looked at this bird the weirder it looked.  It gave me the impression of a Myiarchus flycatcher, but the throat looks white not gray and I don't see much of a crest.  The expected Myiarchus in your area would be Ash-throated, but the yellow looks too dark here for an Ash-throated.  Trying to make a Kingbird out of it wasn't a success, either.  The upperside is brown and there appears to be some rufous in the primaries and tail.

There is a light area at the base of the bill which fits for a Myiarchus.  The bill seems overall too big for a Western Kingbird.

Looking at Sibley's, the yellow on a juvenile Ash-throated is darker than an adult, and the crest is less pronounced.  The throat area is very light on an Ash-throated.  I'll hypothesize that as the solution and see what others think.

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Randy

I wanted to call this a Cassin's kingbird because of how light the edgings on the wings are, but the white on the throat doesn't seem to contrast enough, so I guess it may not be one.  Not ruling it out though.  If not Cassin's, I think it looks pretty good for Western kingbird.  I don't think ash-throated flycatcher would show that silvery gray on the entire head, the brightness of yellow on the belly, or that dark mask.

Don't think it's a Western because of the tail feathers.  They would be noticeably black at that angle.  Also, overall the bird is a little heavy set for an Ash-Throated.  And I agree there isn't a lot of contrast between white and gray on the face, so I don't know about Cassin's (plus this bird's bill is pretty big).

Any reason why this couldn't be a Tropical Kingbird?  They are pretty common vagrants along the coast (we used to get a few up on Vancouver Island every year) and field marks fit.  

 What do you think?

Andrew

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Andrew Ritchie
Renfrew, Ontario
Formerly St. John's, Newfoundland and Victoria, British Columbia

I'm not going to try to ID the bird, and I know that playing with colours can be misleading, but I couldn't help but notice the overall brown tint to the photo.  So, I removed a lot of red and green and ended up with the image below.  It does show a much blacker tail as a result, a definate grey head and a much less rufus look to the primaries.  Does that change any suggestions?

Scott

Good idea; I probably did do a little "photo-shop" work on it because the quality wasn't that great to begin with.  Also, I believe it was an overcast day, which can also influence colors.

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Life List: 164
New this year-to-date: 13
Latest: Red-crowned Parrot

LOL another guess- Ash-throated Flycatcher x Western Kingbird'? Western's have very prominent gray and black field markings which this bird is lacking. The yellow is disturbing if it's an Ash and the Brown is disturbing if it's a Western. Someone else mentioned the photo being off, maybe your photo imaging program auto un-inhanced the bird's actual plumage colors from the original photo.

EDITED

Interesting discussion.  I'm just thrown by how warm brown (that is, towards the red side of brown) this bird's wings are.  You guys are probably right about it being a Kingbird, though.  Tail not withstanding, if it's a Western, shouldn't the wings be darker?  And shouldn't the bill be smaller (EDITed from mistakenly writing "bigger")?  It would seem then that Andrew's suggestion of Tropical really deserves consideration.

Andrew good to see you back.  (Matty and Scott good to see you too but you never left.)

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Randy

Other coloring aside, both versions of the pic of this bird show distinct dark shadowing from the bill straight back through the eye---not a stripe per se, but shadowing nonetheless. This really appears to be a Kingbird, rather than a Myiarchus Flycatcher.

Western v. Cassin's v. Tropical? I'm not sure---in my world, when in doubt, go with the most likely for territory. Bill size and coloring of undersides are usually the indicators if territory is not definitive.

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Newest bird: Slate-colored Fox Sparrow, seen during the Portal, AZ CBC

I didn't know that about tropical kingbirds being common vagrants in that area.  In that case, I too think that tropical seems like a likely candidate.