On Wed, 7 Jun 1995, Dennis Paulson wrote:
> We all know that Western Kingbirds like to nest on utility poles east of
> the Cascades. When I was in Texas I was told that the species was
> extending its range eastward on the upper Texas coast, primarily nesting at
> power plants! This is a bird that clearly likes a buzz.

Two notes:

A pair of WEKI at the Columbia Basin Fish Hatchery have regularly nested
between a small transformer and the pole it's mounted on. I think it's
because they don't have an extension cord for the microwave oven, so this
is an easy arrangement.

As for the Texas situation, WEKI are also moving northeast following road
corridors. So I think it's not only a matter of having a structure to
nest on as it is an open grassland avenue to expand into. Actually, the
habitat preferences for EAKI and WEKI were the topic of a bit of debate
between myself and Kelly Cassidy on our recent trip (report to follow, but
not in this post). I think it's neat how in many places in E. Washington
you can drive along and see both species within a quarter-mile of each
other. Seems to me that Easterns are more commonly found near riparian
habitat and Westerns in drier areas (*I`m not saying that you'd never find
it in reverse, just this seems to be the majority*). Seems to me Easterns
evolved to live in open areas where deciduous trees were dominant (the
East), and Westerns evolved to live in open areas where conifers are
dominant (the West). So where they come together, only nesting habitat is
partitioned, leaving Easterns near spots with deciduous trees (rivers,
lakes, golf courses, etc.) and Westerns at drier spots supporting
conifers. Seems like feeding habitat doesn't matter, and you can find
both kingbirds around any open area, often together.

Does anyone know of papers supporting or contradicting this (hopefully the
former)?

-------------
Michael R. Smith
Univ. of Washington, Seattle
whimbrel at u.washington.edu
http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/mike.html