Subject: Re: Eastern Kingbirds in BC
Date: Jun 08 19:48:09 1995
From: Jack Bowling - Jack_Bowling at mindlink.bc.ca


Michael Price wrote:

<cut>

>In migration they both tend to show up in the agricultural river- and valley
>bottom lands, rough pasture, dry fields, etc., with the WEKI showing a
>preference for drier fields than the EAKI. Both are common in the Dry
>Interior to the E (which, after all is just a northward extension of the
>Great Basin), and WEKI breeds as far N as the Chilcotin Basin N of Williams
>Lake. Not sure how far N in BC that EAKI goes. Anyone out there in
>Tweeterland know?

Eastern Kingbirds are denizens of (believe it or not) the back muskeg
swamps of the lowland boreal plains in the Fort Nelson area of NE BC,
latitude 59N. They shun town itself until August when "families" of
birds-of-the-year and adults swoop down on the red-osier dogwoods and
charge up on the fruit before departing southward. I wouldn't be surprised
if some of the recent survey work in the NW Territories has turned up EAKI.
Must be nice to be a species which eats mosquitoes and black flies instead
of suffering them.

,Jack

Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
CANADA
jack_bowling at mindlink.bc.ca