[TN-Bird] Hybird Western Kingbird/Scissor-tailed Flycathers at it again in Memphis

 
May 20, 2007 
Sex In The City â??Bird Hanky-Panky  
Western Kingbird and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Pairings in Memphis,  
Tennessee 
When I started finding and documenting the Western Kingbird and  
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers nesting here in TN-AR-MS, I never thought it would  
come to the 
following: 
A few years back, I discovered the first nesting of Western Kingbirds in  
Tennessee at Memphis, also the first in Mississippi just south of here and the  
first eastern Arkansas loose colony at Blytheville near the Mississippi River. 
I  found the first nest of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers in Shelby Co, TN on  
Presidentâ??s Island  in 2004 and this is where the sordid â??tale of tailsâ??  
began. 
When I first saw the female of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher pair on  
presidentâ??s Island, the bird just did not look right, in fact at a distance, 
I  
thought I had found another Western Kingbird. After the adult male Scissor-tail 
 
showed up at the nest, I kind of passed it off as a female with slightly  
aberrant plumage and coloration. She never did look exactly like the numerous  
females seen in their breeding areas to our west in central Arkansas. This nest 
 
was located just 3 miles from the first bunch of Western Kingbird nests at the  
Steam Plant in Ensley Bottoms. This pair of Scissor-tails hatched four young,  
which looked pretty good for Scissor-tails but with slightly different tails, 
 and two having a lot of bright yellow on their bellies. This odd female was  
replaced for a couple of seasons by a normal plumaged bird and now this year  
another odd female has appeared, maybe the original female, vying for the male
â??s  attention. Evidently the hybrid ran the normal female away and she is now 
 setting eggs with the male Scissor-tailed FC in attendance. 
The first nesting Western Kingbirds nesting at the TVA Steam Plant in  Ensley 
Bottoms grew to a loose 6 nest colony but has since dropped to only two  
nests last year and apparently only one so far this year. All participants at  
this location appeared to be full-blooded Western Kingbirds. 
Since then, I have found another colony in northwest Memphis, nine miles  
from the original, a second loose colony of Western Kingbirds that grew to at  
least 4 nests last year. Late last season, a female type Scissor-tailed  
Flycatcher appeared. She also did not fit the pattern of a typical Scissor-tail 
 and 
I found her on a nest closely attended by a presumed male, Western Kingbird.  
This nest produced 5 young that exhibited traits of both parents and were fed b
y  both birds. 
This past week, at this north Memphis site, I found two pair of birds  
building nests, both consisted of a male Western Kingbird and a hybrid type  
female, 
each female looking pretty much like the young of the previous yearâ??s  mixed 
pair. 
About 3 miles from this site, I located 5 Western Kingbirds in a new area  
where last year Mike Todd and I found a single bird. There appears to be two  
nests so far at this location. All five of the birds seen so far appear to be  
full-blooded Western Kingbirds. 
Photos of these odd pairings and their young can be viewed at the  following 
site: 
_http://www.pbase.com/ol_coot/sex_in_city&page=all_ 
(http://www.pbase.com/ol_coot/sex_in_city&page=all) 
I would be interested in any info on other mixed pairings of these  species.
 
 
Good Birding  !!!
Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA
6298 Memphis-Arlington Road
Bartlett, TN  38135
http://www.pbase.com/ol_coot/
What is this feathered thing that  lifts my heart to the heavens.



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