[texbirds] Gray Kingbird - thanks, observations and lesson learned

From: Ruth <twofried@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 6 Jul 2013 21:58:20 -0500

Texbirders:
Well, I checked 3 times yesterday and twice today; no Gray Kingbird. It
appears it has moved on to greener pastures. Sorry I couldn't tether it so a
few more folks could see it.

Thanks to all of you who came out to see the Gray Kingbird and get to know
Palacios and Matagorda County a little better. Thanks also to Susan Schaezler
for quickly forwarding our documentation to Eric Carpenter and to Eric for the
assist on the ID. Susan, Eric and the NARBA folks do a fantastic job keeping
us all informed about the latest rare birds.

A few general observations and lessons learned.
- Beware of your own paradigms and don't jump to conclusions. Mad Island CBC
had Thick-billed Kingbird a few years ago and that's what initially came to
mind when we first saw the huge bill of the Gray Kingbird. Obviously, my bad...
- It's why they're called 'guides'. The photos and descriptions in the book
may not always match the bird you see through your binoculars (especially given
the above paradigms and less than ideal lighting conditions)
- Get photos if at all possible. Even bad ones can be a huge help. The
corollary to this is always carry your camera. You never know....
- Consult the experts when (even a little) in doubt about rare birds. Thanks
again to Eric for the ID assist.
- Do some research on-line if unfamiliar with a species. There are lots of
great photos and eBird data available on-line these days. It's easier now to
get help than it used to be.
- 'Birds - have wings, will travel'. If you get confirmation of a rare bird,
get there as fast as you can. It may not hang around for long, especially if
it is reported to be feeding insatiably. That dude was an insect-eating
machine on Wednesday.
- It's not just about the bird. Okay well maybe it is but I met some really
great people, many of whom I would otherwise not have had the chance to meet.

Thanks again and hope to see many of you again out on the birding trail.

If interested, here are some notes and observations that I recorded in eBird.
I'd be interested in any additional observations and thoughts on below.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(From Tuesday, July 2nd). At 5:15pm, we spotted the Gray Kingbird perched on a
telephone wire on the west side of Marine Ctr Dr. It was very actively feeding,
catching and eating large flying insects. First thing we noticed was massive
bill with slight hook at the end. The bill was much larger and longer than any
other normally occurring king bird on the Texas coast. The breast was plain
off-white with perhaps some very light yellow wash down low; no obvious yellow
and no gray like Western or Couches. There was yellow wash under the wings that
was visible when the bird flew. The tail was dark below and above and had no
white at all. The tail appeared wedge shaped, both while perched and flying.
The bird's back was consistently dark. Head had obvious mask, broad black line
through eye. Based on some previous knowledge about thick-billed kingbird
occurring on Mad Island CBC and Sibley guide illustrations and descriptions we
thought perhaps thick-billed kingbird.

The bird was quite tolerant of our presence and allowed a number of photos
though light conditions were not ideal with us looking west into the sun and
the bird skylighted on the wire. We submitted our report and documentation to
NARBA and the bird was quickly identified by Eric Carpenter as Gray Kingbird
and posted to the NARBA site. We heard that this is the 11th confirmed record
of Gray Kingbird in Texas.

Note: We had a weak norther on Saturday night. Perhaps that put the kingbird
down in Palacios. If so, does that mean is was headed north or east, a late
migrant? Was the bird on Marine Ctr Dr starting on Sunday and we didn't know
it? All interesting questions to ponder...

(From Wednesday, July 3rd) Returned to Marine Ctr Dr for better pictures of
the Gray Kingbird and perhaps to help other birders locate it if necessary
since word had gone out on NARBA. I arrived at 7am with no sign of the Gray
Kingbird from the day before. At 8:15, I spotted the kingbird flying from the
palm trees at the entrance of Beachside and it landed on the telephone wire
(had it been roosting in the palm trees over night?). The kingbird was quickly
chased by a Shrike and landed on the wire about 2 poles to the north. We (me,
Harry Forbes, Teri Zambon and one other) were able to get great looks and
photos while the bird preened for about 20 minutes and then started feeding
voraciously, all in clear view on the telephone wire. This bird ate any number
of large flying insects that looked to be grasshopper, wasps and at one point
even caught a cicada though the bug escaped as the bird tried to subdue it. I'm
not sure exactly what I saw but as I watched the perched bird it seemed to
regurgitate a blackish 'blob'. Was this exoskeletons of the bugs it had eaten?
Not sure but I've never seen that before.

We observed the Gray Kingbird for 2 hrs from 8:15 to 10:15 with great lighting,
the sun over our shoulder. Even got some good photos of the kingbird in
flight. I returned twice, at 4pm and 8pm, to confirm the bird was still there
and spoke to other birders each time. Apparently it was seen, photographed and
identification confirmed by at least 12 other birders. These included Eric
Carpenter, Petra Hockey, Steve Gross, Ron Weeks, Joe Fischer and others who are
familiar with the species. The Gray Kingbird was last seen on the fence on the
east side of Marine Ctr Dr at about 8:15 pm, still actively feeding.

I could not re-find the bird on Thursday, July 4 and it may have left the area
sometime Wednesday night. (Tripp Davenport explained that this is what happened
with the Sulphur-billed flycatcher that had been located in the Davis Mtns
earlier in the year. It fed heavily for a couple of days and then disappeared
one night.). I checked again for the kingbird on July 5th and 6th with no luck.
I even expanded my search a couple of miles to the north, east and west as
there is good habitat in other close-by areas. No luck. This Gray Kingbird
was just passing through and we enjoyed it only 2 short days in Palacios.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bob Friedrichs
Houston Texas (Palacios most weekends)

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[texbirds] Gray Kingbird - thanks, observations and lesson learned

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